The US energy storage industry remained “remarkably resilient” during what most of us have found to be a difficult year – to say the least. Andy Colthorpe speaks with Key Capture Energy’s CEO Jeff Bishop and FlexGen’s COO Alan Grosse – two companies that made 2020 one of growth in their energy storage businesses – to hear what lessons can be learned and why economics rule.

France’s electricity transmission system operator, RTE, is exploring options to reduce congestion on the grid at four strategic locations around the country and could award long-term contracts to battery storage systems that can help.

Virginia’s clean energy policies introduced during 2020 included the US’ biggest state-level target for deployment of energy storage – and the state’s regulator has now introduced the rules intended to enable achievement of that target.

The European Union (EU) looks set to introduce the “most extensive product legislation in the world for batteries,” but its potential shortcomings include the risk that battery prices could go up and that established manufacturers from Asia might be better positioned to benefit from the rules than the new European value chain.

Proposed updates to EU legislation on batteries that aim to address some of the issues associated with Europe’s supply chain have been welcomed by trade industry association RECHARGE, albeit with the suggestion that they may be too complex in their current form.

The UK needs “robust energy storage technologies and clear strategies for implementing them,” to accelerate the transition towards decarbonisation, the lead author of a new roadmap detailing the role of energy storage technologies in the country over the next 10-15 years has said.

US energy storage safety expert advisory Energy Storage Response Group (ESRG) was created through a meeting of minds from the battery industry and fire service. Andy Colthorpe speaks with ESRG principal Nick Warner and business manager Ryan Franks on what the industry needs to do to win the trust of firefighters, code officials and other stakeholders including banks and insurers.

Utility NV Energy has had plans for three large-scale solar-plus-storage projects approved by regulator the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) which the company said will enable it to achieve a PUC-set energy storage deployment target.

Energy-Storage.news was delighted to host a sponsored webinar with consultancy Clean Horizon on the Israeli context for renewables and storage as the country undergoes an ‘electricity revolution’ – and you can watch the whole thing on our YouTube channel.

The latest episode of the Solar Media Podcast is out now, as Andy Colthorpe and Liam Stoker unpick the fallout from a dramatic US election.