Energy storage including short duration and seasonal technologies ranging from lithium batteries to hydrogen could help mitigate the impacts of negative power prices in Europe, an analyst has said.

Northvolt has now raised in excess of US$3.5 billion of financing towards its aim of establishing 150GWh of advanced battery manufacturing facilities in Europe by 2030.

Lithium battery cells will be rolling off a production line at a 16GWh-capacity factory in France in 2023, with manufacturing startup Verkor then planning to scale up to 50GWh “in line with market dynamics”.

A subcommittee of the US House Committee on Appropriations has approved more than a billion dollars in support for developing energy storage deployment, research and manufacturing in a funding bill for the 2021 Fiscal Year.

Germany-headquartered battery manufacturer Varta will receive €300 million (US$338 million) of government funding to develop large format lithium-ion cells, which has been deemed a project of potentially strategic interest for Europe.

Dr Prof John Goodenough, one of the three inventors of the modern lithium-ion battery has congratulated Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) as it breaks ground on a new laboratory in China to expand its research and development (R&D) into novel energy technologies.

While the performance of lithium batteries has increased tremendously, there’s still room for improvement to lower cost, increase sustainability and maximise their impact on decarbonisation, says Marcos Ierides, consultant and materials expert at innovation consultancy Bax & Company.

Construction looks set to begin this year on a factory building flow batteries, as a joint venture (JV) formed by German tech company Schmid Group and Saudi Arabian investment company Nusaned closed the transaction to seal its partnership.

Accelerator selected the maker of an organic flow battery among a group of “startups with the potential to dramatically alter the future global energy landscape”.

Hydrogen and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies are among those vying to be considered the next big innovation in energy storage, a panel of experts has concluded.