Following a dramatic start to the year, Energy-Storage.news takes a look at what is driving price volatility in Britain and what battery energy storage could do about it.

Solar-plus-storage systems at customers’ homes in Hawaii will create a “comprehensive” virtual power plant (VPP) network on three Hawaiian islands of up to 6,000 individual systems.

Renewable energy developer Neoen last month published its plan for a new project in New South Wales, Australia, called the ‘Great Western Battery’ which will be among the country’s largest battery energy storage system facilities to date.

Siemens has partnered with the company behind what is to be the UK’s first lithium-ion battery gigafactory, providing it with its Digital Enterprise Technology, which can simulate gigaplant production processes and flows ahead of construction.

Microgrid simulation facilities at universities in Germany and Australia are being supplied with technical solutions by major global power equipment and systems providers AEG Power Solutions and Hitachi ABB Power Grids.

Multinational utility Engie and renewables developer Neoen are to invest €1.2 billion (US$1.46 billion) in a large-scale solar-plus-storage project in south eastern France, which includes a 1GW solar system and 40MW of battery energy storage.

The lion’s share of new funding announced this week to help scale-up potentially disruptive technologies by the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) of the US government Department of Energy (DOE) will go to battery and smart grid technologies.

Technology providers Fluence and Wartsila have been chosen through a competitive solicitation process to supply up to 1,000MW of grid-scale battery energy storage to Australian energy generation and retail company AGL.

A project which will combine and then assess four different types of non-lithium technologies for long-durations of energy storage has been awarded a grant by the California Energy Commission (CEC).

The Solar Media Podcast returns for a new season to mark the new year. In this first episode of 2021, sponsored by SKE Engineering, Andy Colthorpe and Liam Stoker cast their gazes at the horizon and profile what the immediate future holds for the solar and storage industries.