Duke Energy has installed its first solar-and-battery microgrid capable of powering an entire town in North Carolina, while a mixed technology microgrid will add resilience to a new hub at JFK Airport.

US$16.6 million funding has been committed for five long-duration energy storage (LDES) projects in New York by the US state’s government.

What are the roles of battery storage and hydrogen in the clean energy system of the future? Matthias Simolka, a consultant at Germany-based TEAM CONSULT takes a look at the roles each plays today and where we might see the dynamics go from here, with regard to everything from large-scale renewables integration to electric transport.

Over €12 million (US$13.18 million) in funding will be provided to two European projects to examine and exploit synergies between the stationary energy storage and transport sectors, through the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding instrument.

Doosan Fuel Cell America will supply 30.8MW of hydrogen fuel cells to Busan, South Korea, in a deal also involving Samsung Construction and Trading (Samsung C&T) and Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power.

A US energy company is testing power-to-gas systems that store energy from renewable energy production, including solar power, during times of excess supply.

Toyota will put a commercial fuel cell vehicle (FCV), which it claims can be refuelled in less than five minutes, onto the market in Japan, Europe and the USA from as early as mid-December, the carmaker has announced.

A new report funded by the fuel cell industry claims that over five million fuel cell smart power units could be installed in the UK by 2030, equivalent to 5GW of new generation, driving a “revolution” in distributed energy.

Fuel cells for distributed generation will be developed through 13 new projects that have been announced by Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the US government agency responsible for promoting funding and RnD into advanced energy technologies.