Blair Reynolds, SMA America’s product manager for energy storage, discusses the role inverter-based renewable and storage technologies can play in maintaining grid stability.

Standalone storage, demand from commercial and industrial (C&I) customers and new types of grid services will increasingly help drive growth in energy storage in the coming years, but the future mix between battery-based and alternative storage types is still unclear.

Investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with energy storage as an asset class but numerous regulatory and market design hurdles remain across European markets.

The first awards of funding designed to “turbocharge” UK projects developing long-duration energy storage technologies have been made by the country’s government, with £6.7 million (US$9.11 million) pledged. 

The EStor-Lux battery site in south Belgium fully launched commercial activity in December and has successfully participated in grid frequency auctions.

Optimisation deals have been announced for battery storage systems in the UK for Habitat Energy and Centrica with developers Eelpower and Arlington Energy respectively.

The first ever solar-plus-storage hybrid resources system in the Philippines is now in operation after energy company AC Energy (ACEN) switched on the site’s battery energy storage system (BESS).

Creating a wider ecosystem of services and software is essential for system integrators to stay ahead, according to Julian Jansen at Fluence.

Construction has started on a 3.5GWh pumped hydro plant in Gran Canaria, Spain, and progress has been made on two other projects totalling 18GWh of storage in mainland Spain and Nevada, US.

Industry-watchers will closely follow how the recently completed acquisition of energy storage system integrator NEC ES by LG Energy Solution pans out.