News in brief from around the world in energy storage.

Australia’s first new large-scale pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant in nearly 40 years is being built in Queensland and the state’s government is now exploring options for more.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has neared the halfway completion mark of a 250MW pumped hydro project.

Construction has begun on a major hybrid renewable energy and storage plant in Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) of Kosovo is reviewing an application to build a 250MW pumped hydro storage facility.

A plan to turn Australian island state Tasmania into the ‘Battery of the Nation’ has taken a step forwards.

Quidnet Energy, a provider of a novel geomechanical pumped storage (GPS) technology, has struck a 15-year commercial agreement with Texas utility CPS Energy to supply an initial 10MWh system.

China is targeting a non-hydro energy storage installed capacity of 30GW by 2025 and grew its battery production output for energy storage by 146% last year, state media has said.

Standalone storage, demand from commercial and industrial (C&I) customers and new types of grid services will increasingly help drive growth in energy storage in the coming years, but the future mix between battery-based and alternative storage types is still unclear.

Genex Power has “secured the final piece” of its project finance package for Bouldercombe Battery Project in Queensland.