Industry commentators have expressed shock and surprise that NEC Corporation’s Energy Solutions business has been wound down, while an analyst said the reasons for the energy storage system integrator’s demise are likely to go back further than the COVID-19 pandemic.
Itochu, a major Japanese corporation which has sold over 330MWh of residential battery storage systems in its home market, has invested ¥1 billion (US$9.35 million) in TRENDE, a renewable energy retailer which counts utility company Tokyo Electric Power among its major shareholders, with a view to launching a range of renewable energy and storage-enabled services.
Energy storage technology provider Fluence has launched its latest systems aimed at three market segments and – according to new CEO Manuel Perez Dubuc – aimed at creating an inflection point in the global transition to low carbon energy.
QCELLS has invested AU$5 million (US$3.45 million) in SwitchDin, an Australian distributed energy resources (DERs) software company that offers capabilities including virtual power plant aggregation and microgrid-forming.
Long duration energy storage is an “essential” technology to help accelerate renewable deployment, according to the US Department of Energy’s Dr Imre Gyuk, but will require “appropriate regulatory frameworks”.
Q CELLS has officially launched a home solution that promises a “100% sustainable power supply,” through combining solar and battery storage to meet the majority of demand and a digital cloud solution to cover the rest.
Energy solutions company Alfen has seen its quarterly revenue climb across all three of its business lines, with its energy storage arm seeing revenues increase by 144% against the first quarter of 2019.
Moving from today’s gas stations to their electrified equivalent can present a challenge so “dramatic” that in some cases, microgrids may be the only viable solution, a representative of Schneider Electric has said.
