To date, Primary Control Reserve (PCR) has dominated the energy storage debate in Germany with more than 100MW of battery storage installed in 2016 alone specifically for participating in the PCR market. At the same time, with close to 25,000 systems sold in 2016, residential storage has been stealing the limelight in the behind-the-meter segment. Julian Jansen of Delta-ee looks at how his team expects the commercial and industrial (C&I) segment to start catching up.

Solarwatt has unveiled the latest evolution of its MyReseve system, a fully modular storage system that can be customised to suit the demands of any application.

The German state of North-Rhine Westphalia looks set to go ahead with a 200MW pumped hydro energy storage project in a coal mine, as well as a smaller energy storage demonstration project which includes a flywheel from Stornetic.

While Germany is one of the world’s leaders in solar PV and now an early leader in residential energy storage, utility-scale energy storage is still “under discussion” and not yet a mature proposition, industry figures have said.

There have been modest year-on-year increases in the number of PV installers in Germany and the UK offering energy storage to their customers, according to a survey by EUPD Research.

News in brief: Sunverge launches AC-coupled systems, whether South Australia’s blackouts could have been a different story with batteries, German government approves model region project for renewables, storage and grids.

Nissan and Eaton have opened pre-orders for the xStorage Home portfolio in the UK, Norway and Germany as the partnership looks to make a splash in these residential storage markets.

Major utility Steag and Nidec ASI, formerly known as Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali, have inaugurated a 90MW energy storage system in Germany, in what is the largest installation of its kind.

Power conversion specialist Ideal Power has received an order for 0.5MW of its 30kW power conversion systems (PCS) for commercial energy storage projects in Germany, from an unnamed customer or customers.

German inverter manufacturer SMA and Korean battery maker LG Chem have teamed up to offer a residential solar storage solution in Europe and Australia from December 2016 onward.