Justin Rangooni, executive director of trade association Energy Storage Canada (ESC) takes us through some of the key developments to date.

Last week, two significant milestones in the emergence of a market for large-scale battery storage on the grid were laid in Ontario, Canada.

A large-scale pumped hydro energy storage project in Washington State has passed a key stage of approvals, while another in South Dakota has been dropped.

The US state of Minnesota has passed a package of incentives for solar, energy storage, microgrids and energy resiliency totalling US$80 million.

Senators in Maine are considering legislation to accelerate energy storage development, including a focus on who is allowed to own resources placed on transmission and distribution grids.

Masdar has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with the Uzbekistan government to develop more than 2GW of solar and wind projects.

Japan’s Marubeni Corporation working with Vietnamese battery and energy-as-a-service provider VinES to develop energy storage facilities.

A tender will open in a few days’ time under NSW’s electricity system roadmap through which 550MW of long-duration storage could be procured.

Oneida, which will mix long-term contracted revenues with merchant risk exposure in Ontario, Canada, has reached financial close.

The first contract awards for Ontario’s expedited procurement have been announced, in which 739MW of battery storage bids were successful.