Last year was a “seminal year” for energy storage, where the technology moved from “dream to reality”, according to impact investor Nancy Pfund, one of the earliest backers to Tesla and SolarCity.
Sydney-based lead-acid energy storage specialist Ecoult has secured AU$4.1 million (US$3.13 million) recoupable funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to develop and commericalise its UltraBattery products.
There is a significant opportunity for energy storage under the Trump administration, the US Energy Storage Association has said.
Financial services giant Morgan Stanley has anticipated that the US energy storage market will grow faster than current consensus expectations, while Deloitte has earmarked the technology for exponential growth – although not perhaps this year.
Listed funds in the UK which own a significant portion of the country’s utility-scale solar PV assets are not currently convinced by battery storage’s feasibility, but remain primed to deploy the technology at scale when the time is right.
Solar PV paired with energy storage at scale could be provided to utilities at just US$0.10 per kilowatt hour, using advanced battery technology, one manufacturer has claimed.
To widen the access for solar to low-income utility customers, non-profit solar organisation GRID Alternatives and PV microinverter producer Enphase Energy have partnered to launch a new solar-plus-storage project in California for up to 50 customers.
Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) and Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) have been awarded a US$3.24 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the use of energy storage to stabilise high penetrations of solar energy into Texas’ electric grid.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and storage company Tesla has officially changed its name from ‘Tesla Motors’ to ‘Tesla Inc’ according to a new regulatory filing.
