DC-coupling of combined solar and energy storage plants could be a more effective way to save energy that would otherwise be clipped and ‘lost’, benefitting the grid and helping efforts to reduce the amount of carbon pumped into the air, the COO of Fluence has said.

NEC will be using so-called ‘liquid metal’ batteries produced by Ambri in projects that could require more than four hours’ duration of energy storage, the company announced at SPI / ESI this week.

We’ve arrived at Day One of Smart Energy Week – hosting Solar Power International and Energy Storage International in Utah. Here are some of my observations: both on and ‘off’ the record.

Country part of Latin America’s lithium triangle will tap into sizeable reserves of sought-after metal to create industrial ecosystem, top official says at PV plant launch.

While sized only at 30kW, the successful installation of a battery energy storage system in Puebla, Mexico, is nonetheless being hailed as a milestone as it is claimed to be the first such system to deliver frequency regulation services in the country.

A new white paper from Wärtsilä Energy shows that being able to integrate and then optimise all of these different assets is the key to ensuring that your project – and your investment – is going to provide the maximum benefit, longest possible lifetime in the field – and the best business case. Risto Paldanius, Director of Business Development, Energy Storage and Integration at Wärtsilä told us a bit more about what optimization really means in today’s energy market.

While lithium-ion enjoys the most media and customer interest at the moment, alternative technologies for storing energy could become competitive – if investors are willing to take them on to the extent that manufacturing efforts can be greatly scaled up.

Despite the huge strides energy storage has made, significant hurdles remain before the technology in its many guises can be claimed to have fulfilled its massive potential. E-S.n editor Andy Colthorpe assesses the key successes and ongoing challenges for this indispensable part of the future power system.

The second draft of the US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) energy storage system guidance on fire hazards and safe installation best practices for stakeholders has been published.

The dramatic fall in cost, occuring alongside the mass roll-out of home storage systems in Germany since 2013, has highlighted the potential of decentralised batteries in virtual power plants to utility companies and grid operators.