Globally, energy storage is developing rapidly. Businesses that are shaping the market are being asked to nominate themselves to join the Energy Storage 100, a new industry initiative from Energy Storage News’ publisher, Solar Media.

A UK electricity distribution network operator has signed a contract with Renewable Energy Systems (RES) to deliver an energy storage system co-located with large-scale solar, which will be used to develop ways to commercialise services to the grid.

Over two weeks at the beginning of December, unseasonal rains brought Chennai to a standstill. Rahul Walawalkar argues that energy storage-backed mircrogrids are an investment that would add resiliency of supply to extreme weather-affected areas as well as improving overall access to electricity.

News in brief: UK pro-solar Conservative politician Gregory Barker and film star Leonardo DiCaprio have joined the advisory board of Powerhive; Ireland’s government has become the latest to recognise the potential of energy storage in its national low carbon transition; and flow battery maker has supplied systems to projects in Europe that demonstrate the technology’s strengths in integrating PV generation.

A trade association representing some of Germany’s energy storage industry has welcomed the renewal of a support scheme for batteries, but says that establishing “fair market conditions” for storage would be more important.

James P McDougall, CEO of Younicos blogs on the possibilities of establishing a solar-oriented baseload – and why his company is convinced of the scaling potential of utility-scale batteries.

Energy storage is already competitive in a number of mainly grid-based applications, while lithium-ion battery prices could fall by as much as 50% in the next five years, financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard has found.

Steag, a major power generator which constructs, plans and operates power plants, is spending US$100 million on acquiring 90MW of large-scale energy storage to help stabilise Germany’s grid.

Top names have signed up to support the Energy Storage division of PV Tech Storage’s publisher Solar Media, which has launched a series of events and media activities for next year, targeting the UK’s nascent industry.

Jordan’s state power company, NEPCO (National Electric Company), looks likely to deploy 20MW of battery-based energy storage, which according to storage provider AES Corporation will be aimed at easing the integration of wind and solar into the country’s energy networks.