SolarEdge has closed its utility-scale battery storage division, resulting in a layoff of roughly 12% of its total workforce.

Some of the products and companies we can look forward to seeing showcased this week at ees Europe, as Intersolar Europe’s ‘companion’ show in Munich goes from strength to strength.

Kokam has been awarded contracts to deliver 40MWh of battery energy storage at solar power plants in South Korea, including its newest High Energy Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (HE NMC) batteries.

An agreement to buy 75% of Korean battery manufacturer Kokam gives SolarEdge a level of vertical integration that could make the PV company a ‘one-stop-shop’ for customers, while SolarEdge could diversify into areas outside solar energy.

Smart energy and inverter company SolarEdge will acquire the South Korean battery manufacturer Kokam.

Kokam has deployed high power battery storage at an off-grid site in Australia, which the company claims increases efficiency of onsite gas turbines at lower cost than rival grid-scale lithium projects.

News in brief from around the world of energy storage.

Various companies in the Hyundai engineering and industrial construction group will work together on a 65MW solar PV plant with 130MWh of co-located battery energy storage in Seosan, South Korea.

The South Korean government to incentivise solar power plants to install energy storage systems (ESS) from 2017, raising local ESS demand by US$390 million.

Korean battery provider Kokam is to develop a 36MW/13MWh energy storage system for South Korea’s largest utility Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).