Raj Prabhu of cleantech research and communications firm Mercom Capital talks through some of the interesting findings and trends highlighted by his company’s recent “Smart Grid, Battery/Storage, Efficiency Funding and M&A” report for Q1 2015.

Energy storage start-up Stem says it sees “strong opportunity” for expansion of its business in Australia, Japan and the EU, in the week when the company closed a US$12 million funding round led by Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co.

The increasing amount of PV installed in combination with electrical storage options is bucking the trend in the opposite direction for overall residential solar installations in Germany.

Two providers of large-scale battery systems for energy storage have announced expansion plans this month, with Vizn Energy opening new headquarters in Texas, and Younicos forming three separate new business units to address “rapid growth” in the market.

Two recent reports, one from credit rating and investment advisory agency Moody’s, the other from technology and tech market analysts Navigant Research, appear to show divergent views on the potential of distributed energy storage, including residential solar-plus-batteries.

Two different types of energy storage for electric vehicles (EVs) have received a possible boost in the past few days – Samsung has invested in a solid-state lithium battery start-up while redox flow battery EV maker nanoFlowcell has launched manufacturing headquarters.

US space exploration agency NASA is considering proposals for four different energy storage systems, submitted by academic institutions and private companies that could power its future robotic and human missions to space.

Barclays has voiced the opinion that solar PV-generated energy coupled with storage presents a long term disruptive risk to electric utilities in the US, as it was reported the bank’s investment arm had downgraded the entire electric sector of the US high grade corporate bond market.

Electricity storage could be the “glue” that holds electricity networks together in the near future, according to UK politician Alan Whitehead MP, speaking at a parliamentary reception held to launch a new report published by the Electricity Storage Network.

Electricity storage could be the “glue” that holds electricity networks together in the near future, according to UK politician Alan Whitehead MP, speaking at a parliamentary reception held to launch a new report published by the Electricity Storage Network.