News in brief from around the world in energy storage: this edition has a distinctly British flavour.

Despite the fall in unit prices for energy storage, a total of US$3.6 billion of investment was committed to energy storage projects in 2020, around the same amount as in 2019.

Solar inverter manufacturer Sungrow’s energy storage system (ESS) solution will power a 100MW battery storage project in Texas which is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2021.

The amount of corporate funding coming into the global battery storage industry in 2020 was more than double the amount the previous year, with over US$6.5 billion raised last year compared to around US$2.8 billion in 2019.

The Green Investment Group (GIG), a company owned by financial services group Macquarie, is investing an unspecified sum into esVolta, a US-headquartered developer and owner of utility-scale energy storage projects.

A plan to invest CA$2.5 billion (US$1.97 billion) in the clean energy economy by the Canada Infrastructure Bank could lead to involvement in one of the world’s biggest battery energy storage projects so far.

Renewable energy developer Neoen last month published its plan for a new project in New South Wales, Australia, called the ‘Great Western Battery’ which will be among the country’s largest battery energy storage system facilities to date.

Energy company Total and solar-plus-storage developer 174 Global, a division of Hanwha Group, have formed a joint venture to develop utility-scale solar and storage projects with a total capacity of 1.6GW in the US.

At first glance, renewable power generation has created, in the eyes of traditional industries, an investment nirvana. By understanding how these better-capitalised companies view renewables’ merchant risk, we can identify where future energy storage projects should seek finance partners, says Charles Lesser, a partner at Apricum – The Cleantech Advisory.

Battery storage portfolio investor Gresham House Energy Storage Fund has acquired 55MW of UK projects in the past few weeks and completed a 10MW extension to an existing project.