Guidehouse Insights says that the annual power capacity deployments of battery-based residential energy storage systems (RESS) are expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.3% from 2021 to 2030 globally.

Swell Energy, a US company specialising in virtual power plant (VPP) projects aggregating residential solar PV and battery storage, has launched a distributed energy resources management system (DERMS) software platform. 

A 100kW/1.5MWh zinc-based battery energy storage system (BESS) will be installed at a 32-building housing development in Queens, New York, supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). 

A 20MWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) project is being developed for construction at the site of an existing natural gas peaker plant in California, by South Korea’s H2 Inc.

For this third instalment of our look back at 2021, we’ve something of a mixture of views from around the industry.

SunPower has launched its ConnectedSolutions virtual power plant (VPP), enabling customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut to earn “hundreds of dollars a year” for allowing utility access to their stored energy during peak demand.

Whether connected to a main electricity grid or not, commercial and industrial (C&I) microgrids are increasingly able to offer resilient and independent power supply and — perhaps more importantly — electricity cost reductions.

California-headquartered distributed battery energy storage provider SimpliPhi Power has been bought by Briggs & Stratton, a company best known for its gasoline engines and portable generators. 

US backup power solutions specialist Generac has embedded ‘Smart Grid Ready’ functionality into some of its products, leveraging its acquisition of distributed energy platform tech company Enbala.

This edition of news in brief from around the world in energy storage focuses on small-scale but potentially significant deployments.