Transmission system operators in the US have begun making their moves to accommodate energy storage into their wholesale markets, with New England ISO and Southwest Power Pool both making filings in the past month.

The UK’s transmission system operator National Grid’s redesigned Capacity Market targets around 50GW of reserves up to 2023 and could be an early step towards longer duration energy storage batteries.

The latest auction for the UK’s Capacity Market cleared at a record low price at the end of last week as battery storage projects seemingly struggled to compete.

Steps taken in California to enable energy storage systems to provide multiple services and to ‘stack revenues’ are “an essential starting point” for the industry, the head of California’s Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) has said.

The European Council (EC) has agreed a new position on the internal electricity market, placing consumer empowerment, cross-border trading and higher levels of renewables at the heart of the European Union’s efforts to transition to a low carbon economy.

Seeking ways to optimise the use of clean energy, California network operator CAISO (California Independent System Operator) is considering the introduction of a load-shifting product that would incentivise storing peak energy for later use.

Distribution network operators in parts of Australia could be restricted from owning or operating energy storage assets, in a measure proposed by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to stimulate the market for behind-the-meter batteries.

Energy storage companies “have suffered significant and detrimental harm” from changes to rules governing the frequency regulation market in US regional transmission organisation (RTO) PJM Interconnection’s service area, the Energy Storage Association has said.

Moves by the US’ Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to assess electricity storage’s potential role in wholesale markets and in maintaining a low-cost, reliable network have been welcomed by the Washington-headquartered Energy Storage Association.

A programme to re-configure New York’s energy networks, including a comprehensive evaluation of energy storage, could provide “valuable lessons” for other parts of the world, according to the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology consortium (NY BEST).