Energy storage has been placed at the heart of the UK’s new industrial strategy as the government attempts to position itself at the forefront of research and innovation in the global market.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has signed a cooperation agreement with the renewables arm of major French utility EDF to share expertise and experience in areas including energy storage, renewables, EV chargers and energy system integration.

India’s first grid-scale solar-plus-storage tender from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has received very strong interest with a total of 13 developers submitting bids.

The UK energy storage industry is ready to deliver smart technologies for a clean energy system but requires the government to remove all barriers to deployment, the national Solar Trade Association (STA) has said.

The cost of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage declined 65% in five years between 2010 and 2015, while battery storage’s use for electricity could hit 250GW by 2030, from just 1GW today, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Energy storage should be properly valued and supported at federal level in the United States, according to a government document analysing and evaluating energy policy released by officials of the outgoing Obama administration.

Microgrids—distributed systems of localised generation, distribution network and load—are being increasingly deployed particularly in rural areas of emerging and under-developed countries to achieve energy access. However, a “fragmented and unorganised” sector still faces significant challenges, writes Harsh Thacker.

Oregon has become the latest US state to lay out its foundations for electricity companies to procure and deploy energy storage systems, with the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) providing guidelines and timelines.

The north-eastern US state of Massachusetts will introduce a procurement target for energy storage resources, with the state’s department of energy resources (DOER) collecting views from stakeholders.

Every year sees energy storage build on the success of the preceding one, it seems, and this year we were able to carry insights and opinions from some of the best placed participants and observers. Here’s our picks for the content most representative of the year it’s been, as well as the 10 most read news stories on the site.