Battery storage could play the same role on the grid as a proposed 60MW natural gas and fuel oil peaker plant in Massachusetts and not only result in lower emissions but also in cost savings.

A combination of renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy storage can be used to effectively retire New York City’s entire fleet of more than 6GW of peaker plants by 2030, a new study has found.

FlexGen, an energy storage system integrator that counts GE and Caterpillar among its backers, said this week that a lithium-ion battery storage system it was supplied was used by an Indiana utility to black start a 77MW natural gas plant.

Not only can energy storage be used to “mimic” the roles of existing assets in the electricity network, a gigawatt-scale initiative in Germany shows how ways of thinking about energy storage could save transmission and networks “billions of dollars”, the COO of Fluence has said.