News in brief: UK pro-solar Conservative politician Gregory Barker and film star Leonardo DiCaprio have joined the advisory board of Powerhive; Ireland’s government has become the latest to recognise the potential of energy storage in its national low carbon transition; and flow battery maker has supplied systems to projects in Europe that demonstrate the technology’s strengths in integrating PV generation.

AES Corporation’s Steve Corwell argues that pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS), long a key complement to the inflexibility of nuclear generation due to its ability to provide on-demand power, has met its match in battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Behind-the-meter energy storage controls based around Nissan’s EV batteries and a ‘software-defined power plant’, both designed to incorporate a range of energy resources including solar, have been launched in the past week.

PV Tech Storage attended the late November launch of sonnenCommunity, a new energy trading platform launched on a limited basis in Germany based on Sonnen’s residential energy storage systems. Andy Colthorpe spoke to two key members of the Sonnen team at the event, CEO Christoph Ostermann and sales director Philipp Schröder.

The first Tesla Powerwall home energy storage systems to go on sale in the US through a utility are being sold through Vermont’s Green Mountain Power which is including a “no upfront cost” option for its customers.

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.

PG&E presents 75MW of energy storage contracts to CPUC, AMS appoints Alain Steven as CTO, Wattstor installs UK’s ‘first’ non-toxic saltwater battery storage system.

The eligibility of energy storage systems for a programme financing energy efficiency and renewables through property tax assessment shows that the technology is maturing rapidly, according to the CEO of the North American arm of Sonnenbatterie.

While lithium-ion is expected to hold its leading position as the battery chemistry of choice for at least the next decade, it would be wise to consider investing in its possible successors, according to Lux Research.

Since 2010, the cost of lithium-ion battery packs for electric vehicles has dropped 60%, from $1000 to $400 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) according to analysis by BNEF. At the same time, concerns regarding urban air pollution and our need to deploy zero emission vehicles in these cities are increasing. Melissa C. Lott takes a closer look at how EVs could help – and what the limitations might be.