Electrification of remote areas of the developing world using solar, storage and microgrids can and should go further than just providing basics like lamps and phone chargers.

Australian flow battery manufacturer Redflow has resumed battery deliveries after laboratory test results revealed that a significant number of batteries in stock meet the company’s quality standards, enabling immediate delivery to customers, and scored a AU$800,000 order.

Energy storage solutions combined with hybrid solar PV plants and diesel generators will soon benefit communities in two starkly contrasting locations – in a luxury Maldives resort and in Australia’s Aboriginal community.

Recharge A/S, an investment fund specialising in renewables, will take a 50.1% stake in a €24 million (US$26.7 million) micro grid on a remote Portuguese island that could prove the validity of such projects as an asset class.

A solar farm connected to a huge battery will be built on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to use solar in the evenings to meet peak demand, under a 20-year contract between SolarCity and an electric utility co-operative.

An energy storage project aimed at enabling the grid integration of 1MW of solar and 4.5MW of wind on the Portuguese island of Graciosa will be supplied with batteries by Leclanché.

Mining giant Glencore has taken delivery of a lithium-ion energy storage system at a nickel mining complex in Canada, to be used to lower diesel costs and integrate power from wind turbines.