Well, we seem to say it at the end of every year, but 2017 seemed a lot busier than 2016, 2016 was busier and more exciting than the year before that, and so on! There have been some hints already on what the industry and its observers expect to see in 2018 and we do not doubt energy storage will continue in its rise to become a flexible cornerstone of the world’s electricity infrastructure. In the meantime, let’s reflect on the top news stories of last year, as reported by Energy-Storage.News and based on readership statistics from you:

Major Japanese business and government entities have extended their involvement in energy storage with the announcement of the country’s first virtual power plants, an investment in a US frequency regulation project and partnerships on technology.

Even if the US withdraws from the Paris Agreement on climate change, economics and popular support for clean energy mean the industry will not lose its momentum, the chief commercial officer of Younicos has said.

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.

Energy storage solutions and software company Greensmith Energy has installed its software platform at an existing energy storage site of giant US utility American Electric Power (AEP).

Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché has reported an increase in revenues for 2016 of 56% compared to the previous year, netting unaudited preliminary revenue of CHF28 million (US$27.66 million) for the calendar year.

The US installed 41.2MW of energy storage capacity in the second quarter of 2016, up 126% from 18.3MW in Q1, according to the latest report from GTM Research.

Battery energy storage used on the grid for ancillary services has been gaining momentum ever since the United States changed its frequency regulation markets by introducing a concept known as pay-for-performance. Roger Lin of NEC ES takes a good look at how this space is evolving, as the UK’s National Grid prepares a 200MW tender for enhance frequency response.

News in brief: SolarEdge’s Powerwall-compatible StorEdge self-consumption solution is now available internationally; AES completes another 10MW project in Holland which will provide grid services; and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation’s Willey Battery Utility is the latest energy storage system to join PJM’s frequency regulation market.

Lux Research published 2015’s fourth quarter update to its Grid Storage Tracker earlier this month, tracking every stationary deployment of advanced energy storage globally. Dean Frankel, research associate at Lux talks through some of the headline findings and big trends and explains why it has been a “monumental year” for energy storage.