We chat to Stephan Lehrke, head of Germany at Second Foundation, a Czech Republic-headquartered energy asset trading firm which is becoming an owner-operator of BESS.

Wärtsilä spinning out its energy storage activities and divesting a 50% stake this week reflects difficulties in making the business profitable and synergistic within the wider group activities, analysts said.

Octopus Energy Generation has partnered with ZE Energy to invest in and build one of Italy’s biggest BESS projects, while Eco Stor has secured financing for one of Germany’s, which it is already building. Optimiser Entrix has also won two large contracts in Germany and the Netherlands.

The NSW Energy Security Corporation has deployed its first investment, committing AU$100 million to a large-scale battery storage platform.

Gamuda Renewables has secured an interest in the 1,800MWh Hazelwood North solar-plus-storage project in Victoria, Australia.

To avoid pitfalls that harm BESS investments, developers must sign well-structured contracts, writes Intertek CEA’s Yilin Huang.

Energy-Storage.news Premium speaks with Ravi Manghani at Anza Renewables about why some BESS developers are forgoing the ITC altogether.

This special Japanese market roundup covers large-scale BESS project announcements from PowerX, Eku Energy and SMFL.

That’s according to Benedikt Deuchert, head of business development and regulatory affairs for German battery energy storage system (BESS) developer and EPC firm Kyon Energy.

Managers of the UK’s largest BESS owner-operator Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) discussed recent investment news and future strategy this week.