The Solar Media podcast is back for another episode, and Liam Stoker and Andy Colthorpe explores the deepening materials crisis impacting upstream solar manufacturing, through from modules to trackers.

Experts Frank Burke from the Irish Energy Storage Association and Bernice Doyle of Statkraft Ireland talk about the growing need for energy storage, how the market has rapidly developed so far and what it needs to look like to achieve a stable, decarbonised and secure energy system on the island of Ireland.

Germany’s second ‘Innovation Tender’ for clean energy projects combining different technologies has awarded 258MW of capacity to solar-plus-storage across 18 bids.

With batteries today finally reaching the size and capacity that enables renewables to replace medium-sized natural gas generators, a future ruled by solar and storage is just around the corner, writes Radoslav Stompf, CEO of FUERGY.

ENGIE has sold its 60.5% stake in stationary storage and e-mobility solutions company ENGIE EPS to Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC).

Having previously said that the coronavirus pandemic had badly impacted its financial performance during 2020, a rebound is expected this year and next, ENGIE EPS, the energy storage and e-mobility subsidiary of European utility ENGIE has said.

A 100MW battery energy storage system just announced in the UK by battery storage developer, owner and operator Zenobe Energy is the first such system to win a long-term contract from the country’s transmission system operator to directly absorb reactive power from the transmission network.

TWAICE, a software company headquartered in Munich, has launched a platform aimed at helping energy storage system operators manage the profitable use of their assets against the impact that has on the health of their batteries.

Europe’s cumulative electrochemical energy storage installation capacity has gone past the 5GWh mark and this year is likely to see installations almost double from 2020’s figures.

Almost 70% of home solar PV in Germany comes with battery energy storage attached and the country’s residential storage market represented around 2.3GWh of installed capacity by the end of 2020.