A study co-written by industry figures has put forward new claims of the cost-competitiveness of European solar-plus-storage, amid predictions that grid parity will unfold continent-wide by 2025.

PV Tech Power, the downstream solar industry journal from our publisher Solar Media, has reached its fifth ‘birthday’ and Volume 20 of the quarterly magazine, out now, includes a special report on energy storage.

Make no mistake – headlines in the mainstream press this week around Australia, climate change and energy are not positive. But enthusiasm at state level, where arguably politicians have closer relationships with their constituents, appears to run counter to apathy or even obstructionism from the top.

Battery storage assets were called into action last week after the UK suffered country-wide power outages following a transmission system stress event.

We talk about how solar and storage can be competitive with fossil fuels, how Solaredge is maintaining its own competitive advantage as well as some exclusive inside info on the company’s forthcoming residential battery energy storage systems.

A new subsidy scheme for residential solar-plus-storage installs is now live in Bavaria.

Of the four projects, all in California, one has already closed financing.

VIDEO: Using solar and batteries to replace diesel and other fossil fuels at off-grid industrial sites is both a viable business model and a way to “inject” solar into the global energy mix in a smart – and economical way, MD Karim Wazni says.

The International Flow Battery Forum is taking place this week and long-time organiser, Anthony Price of consultancy Swanbarton, wrote to Energy-Storage.news with some of his views on the market and a snapshot of where development currently lies.

Despite policy uncertainty spanning years, and Brexit looming large, we still hear from the industry that the UK is a key market. Andy Colthorpe takes a closer look.