Standalone storage, demand from commercial and industrial (C&I) customers and new types of grid services will increasingly help drive growth in energy storage in the coming years, but the future mix between battery-based and alternative storage types is still unclear.
Investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with energy storage as an asset class but numerous regulatory and market design hurdles remain across European markets.
The first awards of funding designed to “turbocharge” UK projects developing long-duration energy storage technologies have been made by the country’s government, with £6.7 million (US$9.11 million) pledged.
The EStor-Lux battery site in south Belgium fully launched commercial activity in December and has successfully participated in grid frequency auctions.
Optimisation deals have been announced for battery storage systems in the UK for Habitat Energy and Centrica with developers Eelpower and Arlington Energy respectively.
Following last year’s acquisition, independent power plant developer Green Frog Power has rebranded as Pulse Clean Energy and unveiled a target of 1GW+ of energy storage assets in the UK.
Trina Storage has completed the supply of its first UK battery energy storage system (BESS), the 50MW/56.2MWh fully integrated grid-scale battery energy storage system owned by SMS plc
UK clean energy and transport solutions developer Zenobē Energy has established a multi-source debt structure of £241 million (US$326 million) to fund capital investment into e-buses and charging infrastructure.
