Welcome to Part 2 of our in-depth talk with Nancy Pfund, managing partner at DBL Partners, a venture capital firm specialising in companies and start-ups that offer both rewarding financial returns and positive social impacts. As well as being one of the earliest backers to Tesla and SolarCity, to utility-scale solar tracker company NEXTracker to Off-Grid Electric, which deploys solar in rural Africa; to others in energy storage like Advanced Microgrid Solutions and Primus Power, Pfund is extremely well-placed to offer a quick Q&A ‘masterclass’ in energy storage investing.

AES Corporation has closed US$2 billion in finance for the 1.4GW Southland Repowering Project.

Nancy Pfund is managing partner at DBL Partners, a venture capital firm which specialises in investing in companies and start-ups that offer both rewarding financial returns, and positive social impacts. There have been some serious clean tech companies in DBL’s portfolio, including a pre-IPO investment in Tesla. With this in mind, we spoke to Nancy about how to invest in energy storage wisely and heard her views on the waves of the future. Part 2 to be published tomorrow.

Stem’s virtual power plants (VPPs) have been utilised to provide emergency demand response services in California during a major heatwave.

As early as next year, demand for energy storage in consumer electronics could be overtaken by markets for electric mobility and stationary energy storage, Lux Research has forecast.

An analyst at Navigant Research has said he was surprised to see Tesla dominate California’s SGIP (Self-Generation Incentive Program) applications, with the Silicon Valley car and tech company accounting for half of all requested funds.

Energy Renaissance is constructing a 1GWh per annum lithium-ion battery storage manufacturing plant at Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, while CEFC has financed a 2Mtpa lithium concentrate mining project in Western Australia.

US-based trade industry groups NY-BEST and the Energy Storage Association, have welcomed the passing of bills in New York providing a framework for the state’s regulator to establish an energy storage deployment programme.

Energy storage is the next obvious addition to solar plants in the UK. Elizabeth Reid of law firm Bird & Bird takes a look at some of the drivers, opportunities – and regulatory obstacles.

Up to US$6.3 million in funding will support the commercialisation of emerging energy storage technologies in New York, from public benefit corporation NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research & Development Agency).