The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed up to A$18 million (US$13.7 million) in funding to build the first phase of a A$120 million solar-wind-storage project by Windlab and Eurus that will deliver renewable energy on demand.

Chinese energy storage company TrinaBEST launched its residential storage product for the Australian market at last week’s All Energy show, while the USA’s Enphase and Australian flow battery maker Redflow were among the other exhibitors showcasing residential products.

GCL System Integration Technology, a subsidiary of GCL, will distribute another 1,000 of its energy storage units to an Australian wholesale partner One Stop Warehouse (OSW).

The UK is a key market for Tesla’s Powerwall and Powerpack energy storage products, and Tesla is seeing demand for additional installations of its commercial oriented products after the first Powerpack install was completed last month.

An Australian island will soon host the world’s first renewable energy microgrid that integrates wave energy, solar PV and energy storage technologies.

Conergy plans to build a 10.8MWac solar PV plant combined with 1.4MW/5.3MWh of lithium-ion battery storage near Lakeland, Australia.

Australian power company AGL is to install the largest ‘virtual power plant’ in the world in Adelaide, South Australia, using batteries from energy storage firm Sunverge Energy.

State-owned Australian utility Ausgrid is streamlining applications and cutting fees for consumers installing solar or battery storage systems.

Australia-based renewables firm Windlab and Japan’s Eurus energy have received development approval for a hybrid project comprising 20MW solar, 30MW wind and a 2MW lithium-ion battery storage system in Queensland, Australia.

The global grid-connected energy storage project pipeline is forecasted to hit 2GW this year; a 20% increase on the figures for the end of 2015, according to new analysis by IHS.