Plans by Italy’s grid operator to allow for the interconnection of energy storage to the network have resulted in the country’s first grid-connected solar-smoothing storage facility being inaugurated.

Elon Musk’s Tesla has done the rest of the storage industry a big favour by putting a price point on lithium-ion batteries, according to the CEO of Sonnenbatterie’s North American operations.

The market for residential solar paired with energy storage will grow tenfold by 2018, despite the relative failure of deployment to “live up to hype”, according to a new report from analysis firm IHS.