Anesco is investigating how it could adopt flow batteries into future projects instead of lithium as a response to growing uncertainty around the future of storage de-rating in the capacity market, Clean Energy News can reveal.

In the UK, a new, quarter of a billion-pound innovation competition for batteries has been launched, while plans for overhaul of the energy sector promising a “determined, joined-up, far-sighted and deliberate approach from government” appear to have been met with relish by the industry. Consultant Robert Ede goes beyond headlines to look at what this might really mean in practical terms.

The UK government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has incurred the wrath of battery storage asset owners by proposing significant changes to how their generation classes are derated within the Capacity Market (CM).

The British government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and energy regulator Ofgem have today released plans for a major upgrade of the UK’s energy system, while a separate huge funding opportunity for battery innovation has been broadly welcomed by industry.

British government minister Greg Clark today unveiled the first phase of a £246 million (US$320 million) investment in battery technology with the launch of the Faraday Challenge, designed to boost research and development and position the UK at the forefront of energy storage.

The potential for storage to help stabilise the grid has finally been recognised in the UK, where battery projects took all of the 200MW on offer in a recent frequency response tender. David Pickup looks at the evolving role of storage in the future grid and how further policy support can help it flourish.

The UK’s government department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) and its regulator, Ofgem, have jointly launched a Call for Evidence on System Flexibility for the country’s power networks, putting storage at the forefront. Anthony Price, head of trade group the Electricity Storage Network spoke to Energy-Storage.News about the document, which gives stakeholders until January to respond.

A ‘call for evidence’ from the UK government on how to reform the energy sector, calling for information and commentary by industry and other stakeholders, has been welcomed by the country’s Electricity Storage Network trade association.

The long-awaited call for evidence on UK energy storage and smart power policy, giving stakeholders the chance to put forward their views to government, will be released within the next couple of weeks according to the head of smart energy at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is set to rule in March on Quarry Battery Company’s £160 million project to convert two disused slate quarries in Snowdonia into a 100MW / 700MWh pumped hydro facility