Energy storage capacity additions will double worldwide to 2.9GWh this year, up from 1.4GWh in 2015, according to the latest report from analyst firm IHS Markit.

Utility-scale solar projects in a region of Japan affected by fears of grid capacity constraints have been supplied with energy storage, aimed at mitigating the potential effects of output curtailment.

Sharp has launched its latest home energy storage systems in Japan, with features geared towards meeting changes in the electricity market that are underway in the country.

The Japanese city in which the manufacturing bases of lithium-ion battery makers including Panasonic, Hitachi Maxcell and GS Yuasa are located will play host to the world’s biggest energy storage battery and system testing facility to date.

A spokesman for Solar Frontier has said that a retrofit market for up to half a million home energy storage systems could open up in Japan from the year 2019, as agreements made under a subsidy scheme for solar in existence before the current feed-in tariff begin to reach the end of their terms.

Japanese financial services company Orix Corporation has invested in UniEnergy Technologies (UET), a US company delivering large-scale energy storage based around its own vanadium flow batteries.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is set to launch a technology roadmap for electricity storage at the solar industry conference and exhibition Intersolar Europe next month. IRENA technology roadmap analyst Ruud Kempener spoke to Andy Colthorpe about the project.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), one of Japan’s major electric utility and transmission providers, will conduct a microgrid demonstration project on a remote Japanese island, incorporating solar, storage, wind and diesel.

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.

AU Optronics (AUO) is to launch its residential and commercial energy storage system, Powerlegato, into the European, Japanese and Australian markets on the back of receiving the necessary certification.