The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) that can be achieved today for battery energy storage means that “new-build batteries can be competitive on cost with gas peaker plants,” according to BloombergNEF.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam two days ago signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), finally putting into law a 3.1GW energy storage target and a goal to achieve 100% renewable and clean energy by 2050 for the US Commonwealth State.

The latest episode of the Solar Media Podcast is now available to stream, featuring considerable discussion around the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the energy storage sector.

“We work hard every day to continue to push forward to the best of our ability, as we believe that we must do all that we can do to keep our projects on track and support the greater economy.”

Utility company RWE has begun marketing a tech solution through which data centres, which already integrate batteries for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, can use their UPS to “help stabilise the grid”.

With many climate protection advocates as well as the industry itself calling on Europe’s lawmakers to recognise the importance of energy storage, a “significant slowdown” in 2019 is expected to be countered with a more positive outlook going forwards.

In this article, experts at consultancy Apricum examine with some simple “reverse engineering” how recent low solar-plus-storage PPAs in the USA were achieved, yet another example of the competitiveness of energy storage and new market opportunities emerging via storage-plus-renewables projects.

Controlled Thermal Resources and Lilac Solutions are creating facilities for lithium extraction and chemical processing at a geothermal plant at Imperial Valley’s shallow, saline Salton Sea.

Paul Verrill, director of energy data analysis & consultancy firm EnAppSys, explains how renewable energy generation, with the integration of smart grid technologies and efficiency energy storage systems, can create a sustainable power system for the future.

With Japanese companies keen to learn from their counterparts in deregulated energy markets such as the UK, the Japan Energy Challenge provided the ideal forum for exchanging ideas. Andy Colthorpe reports.