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.

One of the world’s leading suppliers of solar PV trackers is targeting sales volumes of approximately 15MW per week of the new battery solution it has paired with its products.

An energy storage market and tech analyst has told Energy-Storage.News a decision by flow battery maker Redflow to shift focus away from the residential market signals that it is “highly unlikely” the technology can compete with lithium-ion in that space.

Energy storage has reached a point of commercial viability in the UK according to the chief executive of redT energy, who said the company had now reached “the right price” for an economic proposition.

Clearly, renewable energy is now a viable alternative to traditional generation from a cost perspective. However solar and wind’s penetration of the grid is constrained by ageing infrastructure, high grid connection costs and their intermittent, weather-dependent nature. Scott McGregor looks at how long-duration energy storage on an industrial scale can help.

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’.

California-headquartered provider of low-cost, long-duration storage systems Primus Power has launched the EnergyPod 2, the second generation of its long-duration, fade-free flow battery.

Lockheed Martin has told Energy-Storage.News that while the company wants its energy storage systems to support the adoption of renewable energy, its recently launched lithium-ion devices will focus on “commercial applications”.

While the effectiveness of flow batteries in islanded situations is quickly being recognised, on the grid, the cost of providing that storage is still seen as something of an inhibitor to uptake. Andy Colthorpe spoke with the RedT CEO, Scott McGregor, to get his views on how flow batteries can thrive – and why lithium-ion is not the enemy.

Flow battery manufacturer ViZn Energy Systems has won a contract to provide a 128kW/320kWh system for a US department of energy project.