Panasonic has given the first indication of the expected size of its investment in collaborator-competitor Tesla’s battery Gigafactory, which according to the company’s president could be up to US$1.6 billion.
Globally, energy storage is developing rapidly. Businesses that are shaping the market are being asked to nominate themselves to join the Energy Storage 100, a new industry initiative from Energy Storage News’ publisher, Solar Media.
Production and deliveries of Tesla’s stationary storage systems have now begun, while a company spokesman said it welcomes new competitors such as Faraday Future to the EV space – in line with Tesla’s stated values to accelerate clean energy deployment.
The former VP of Solar Grid Storage has predicted average Balance of Systems (BoS) costs for energy storage will drop from around US$670 to less than US$400 per kilowatt in the next five years.
German storage manufacturer sonnen will begin selling residential storage systems in the US before Christmas.
In light of the Paris COP21 climate conference, New York City announced plans to incorporate 2,000 electric vehicles (EVs) into its municipal fleet by 2025. New York City claims this move will make it the largest EV fleet operator in the world. Analyst Dean Frankel of Lux Research takes a dive beyond the headlines.
A document setting out new policy directions on solar support says the UK government has recognised the potential of energy storage but has decided the feed-in tariff would not be an appropriate mechanism to incentivise uptake.
A utility has been first off the mark to put Tesla Powerwall stationary storage systems on sale in Australia, with installations expected to begin in February.
The UK’s Renewable Energy Association has slammed the results of an auction held to ensure the country has enough available capacity to avoid blackouts, with 153MW of energy storage bidding unsuccessfully in the tender.
Thin-film PV manufacturer and project developer First Solar is among the investors in a US$50 million funding round for grid-scale storage specialist Younicos, with the money raised set to fuel the latter’s expansion.
