India’s first commercial regulated utility-scale battery storage project has gone into operation, and a new partnership claims it will establish local manufacturing in the country this year.

We hear from startup Volklec which, like another European battery company Elinor, will build its batteries with a Chinese technology and manufacturing partner. They both say this will get around the challenges that ultimately doomed Europe’s first wave of battery startups, with Northvolt today declaring bankruptcy in Sweden.

Why recent awards of pre-licensing for large-scale projects in Turkey mean a “very promising market” for energy storage is about to open.

Turkey pre-licensing energy storage facilities paired with renewables, with around 20GW expected to be granted within three years.

Energy Dome has scored its first commercial licensing agreement for its carbon dioxide-based energy storage solution.

The US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) has made a third semi-exclusive commercial licence for vanadium redox flow battery technology available.

Construction has started on a 3.5GWh pumped hydro plant in Gran Canaria, Spain, and progress has been made on two other projects totalling 18GWh of storage in mainland Spain and Nevada, US.

A 100MWh gravity-based energy storage system developed by Energy Vault is expected to begin construction in China in the second quarter of this year, the Swiss-American startup has claimed. 

A clarification of the status of energy storage systems (ESS) in India’s power sector, issued by the government’s Ministry of Power, has described the various technologies as “essential” to achieving national renewable energy goals. 

New technology which can help prevent flammable gas build-up in lithium-ion battery storage systems is being made available for “low-cost, non-exclusive licensing” by the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).