Building control manufacturer Johnson Controls, a recent entrant to the energy storage market, has announced a US$20 billion takeover of security and fire protection firm Tyco as it looks to consolidate its offering in the smart building sector.

A joint statement on economic and social cooperation between the governments of India and France has “noted the important role of energy storage to promote renewable energies”.

French manufacturer Leclanche will supply battery storage systems to a 13MW capacity storage project with 53MWh of storage duration in Ontario to be used for voltage control and in providing reactive power support to the grid.

Almost US$700 million of corporate funding went into energy storage in 2015, including US$397 million from venture capital (VC) investment, according to the latest report from Mercom Capital.

Although Britain’s government has cut support for renewable energy severely in the past few months, controversially claiming a need to balance the transition away from fossil fuels against the cost to consumers, energy storage may face less of a challenge at the top level, according speakers at a conference in London.

As residential storage solutions fast become a staple of energy companies’ product portfolios, many in the market are addressing the growing conundrum of how to sell storage solutions to the residential customer, writes Daniel Roca of Panasonic Eco Solutions Europe.

Flow battery manufacturer ViZn Energy Systems has won a contract to provide a 128kW/320kWh system for a US department of energy project.

News in brief: Nissan commits to longer range EV batteries from UK plant, a first in energy storage financing for Green Charge, American Vanadium plans acquisition of Gildemeister, Ceres and Honda developing solid oxide fuel cell stacks for power equipment.

SMA is aiming to tackle the market for retrofitting energy storage systems in to existing home PV installations, with a new AC-coupled version of its Sunny Boy inverter suitable for high voltage batteries.

News in brief: SolarEdge’s Powerwall-compatible StorEdge self-consumption solution is now available internationally; AES completes another 10MW project in Holland which will provide grid services; and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation’s Willey Battery Utility is the latest energy storage system to join PJM’s frequency regulation market.