The world pipeline for energy storage on the utility side of the meter has doubled in the past year, reaching 3.4GW, according to new research by I.H.S.

Belectric has developed PV plants on every continent of the globe except Antarctica and also delivers energy storage system projects and offers a wide range of energy storage solutions including in-house battery systems, turn-key large-scale battery storage as well as scalable container solutions. Managing director of Belectric Solar and Battery, Frank Amend, spoke to Energy-Storage.News about the company’s recent acquisition by RWE subsidiary innogy and where the company sees energy storage (and solar) going.

To date, Primary Control Reserve (PCR) has dominated the energy storage debate in Germany with more than 100MW of battery storage installed in 2016 alone specifically for participating in the PCR market. At the same time, with close to 25,000 systems sold in 2016, residential storage has been stealing the limelight in the behind-the-meter segment. Julian Jansen of Delta-ee looks at how his team expects the commercial and industrial (C&I) segment to start catching up.

Flow battery manufacturer ViZn Energy Systems has won a contract to provide a 1MWh zinc-iron flow battery to India’s majority network operator and utility Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL).

According to the latest GTM Research figures, energy storage is coming into its own and is no longer confined to a handful of US states. 21 states now have 20MW of storage projects proposed, in construction or deployed. Further, 10 states have pipelines of more than 100MW.

Queensland’s workplace regulator, the Electrical Safety Office (ESO), has revoked its recommendation that all home energy storage battery units should be installed separately from households in an external enclosure.

Fundamental changes in how battery energy storage technology works come faster than they have done in solar PV or wind historically – and governments and regulators will need to adapt to keep up, one industry insider has told Energy-Storage.News.

AGL has commissioned the first phase of what it claims is the world’s largest virtual power plant (VPP).

Utility San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Sumitomo Electric (SEI) have launched a 2MW/8MWh pilot vanadium redox flow battery storage project in California to study how the technology can reliably integrate renewable energy and improve flexibility in grid management.

The government of Victoria in Australia plans to invest AU$20 million (US$15.2 million) in large-scale energy storage initiatives across the state to reach 100MW by the end of 2018.