While lithium-ion is rapidly racing ahead to become the “de facto grid storage solution” and is the most popular technology choice by far, vendors of other types of batteries are also targeting the market, with varying degrees of success.

One of Germany’s largest utilities wants to build what it says could be the biggest ‘battery’ in the world to date – using underground caverns filled with saltwater as a giant redox flow energy storage system.

Australian flow battery manufacturer Redflow has resumed battery deliveries after laboratory test results revealed that a significant number of batteries in stock meet the company’s quality standards, enabling immediate delivery to customers, and scored a AU$800,000 order.

Flow battery maker Primus Power was leader of the charts in VC funding in the first quarter of 2017, securing US$32 million from a range of investors, according to Mercom Capital’s latest report.

Australia-based flow battery provider Redflow has paused deliveries of new batteries after a number of unexpected product mode failures during remote monitoring at customer sites, according to a filing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

UK flow battery provider redT will deliver a 1.08MWh energy storage project to support the distributed energy system in Cornwall, England, and potentially take part in utility Centrica’s developing ‘virtual energy marketplace’.

Flow battery manufacturer ViZn Energy Systems has won a contract to provide a 1MWh zinc-iron flow battery to India’s majority network operator and utility Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL).

The complexities of combining batteries and solar microgrids are explained by Sam Duby, who is co-founder and director of research and development at mini-grid technologies company SteamaCo Ltd and consults for TFE Consulting. TFE Consulting is a strategy consulting firm focusing on accelerating the energy transition in emerging markets and is active in Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

To date, the vast majority of the entries into the energy storage market have depended on lithium-based battery chemistry, but, the idea that lithium-ion is the technological and economic front-runner in the stationary storage space is a myth that is in dire need of de-bunking, claims Ron Van Dell.

Property and infrastructure group Lendlease has signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) to deliver solar, battery storage and microgrid projects across Australia with Carnegie Clean Energy.