We have the technological tools to decarbonise, but can we do so at pace and scale? It depends on the politics, says James Basden, co-founder and director of Zenobe Energy.

It’s the latest episode of the Solar Media Podcast, this time in collaboration with Solar Energy UK, as we look forward to COP26.

Whether connected to a main electricity grid or not, commercial and industrial (C&I) microgrids are increasingly able to offer resilient and independent power supply and — perhaps more importantly — electricity cost reductions.

US$100 million has been invested into North American lithium-ion battery recycling specialist Li-Cycle by a venture capital (VC) subsidiary of fossil fuels industry giant Koch Industries.

The impact of high gas prices in the UK has emphasised the need to invest in energy storage technologies, national industry trade group the Electricity Storage Network (ESN), has said.

Greece’s electricity market holds the potential to become an important European market for energy storage technologies like lithium-ion batteries in the coming months and years.

As energy system modernisation and decarbonisation progresses, energy storage could represent between 10% and 25% of India’s total installed power capacity by 2050, while other countries in South Asia including Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan also have “significant opportunities” for energy storage.

Talen Energy, a US independent power producer (IPP) with a 13GW portfolio of generation assets, has contracted energy storage developer Key Capture Energy to install a battery storage system at the site of a coal power plant in Maryland.

Commissioned at the start of this year, the Alamitos Battery Energy Storage System in California is a landmark project for the industry in having competed against natural gas to provide peaking capacity for the grid. Andy Colthorpe finds out the project’s backstory.

Talen Energy Corporation, a US power and infrastructure development group with 13GW of mostly fossil fuel assets in its portfolio to date has said that it is developing a gigawatt of battery storage projects.