While Germany is one of the world’s leaders in solar PV and now an early leader in residential energy storage, utility-scale energy storage is still “under discussion” and not yet a mature proposition, industry figures have said.

In a major energy strategy upheaval, the South Australian government is providing significant funding to support energy storage projects, starting with a 100MW grid-connected battery that will be the largest in the country.

Swedish start-up Northvolt, which is run by two former Tesla Motors executives, plans to build a huge lithium-ion battery factory in the Nordic region, giving Tesla and Panasonic’s Nevada Gigafactory a close rival within Europe in terms of size.

US battery and energy storage system manufacturer Aquion Energy has declared bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and offloaded 80% of its employees, according to a company release.

Battery management systems developer Dukosi announced that it has secured approximately US$2.4 million in funding, led by IP Group.

The largest battery ever developed within the Nordic countries has been commissioned at Fortum’s Järvenpää power plant in Finland.

US utility Southern California Edison (SCE) is looking to acquire distributed energy projects to help strengthen the grid in the Goleta area of Santa Barbara, California.

The North American subsidiary of international investor-owned energy supplier E.ON has partnered with Greensmith Energy to deliver two grid-scale energy storage systems known as the Texas Waves projects.

In anticipation for the expected reopening of the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), SimpliPhi Power and CivicSolar are partnering up to provide energy storage solutions for residential solar installers in California.

A new joint venture has been established to fund early stage energy storage and renewable energy projects in the UK, beginning with two of the winning projects from National Grid’s Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) tender.