Ahead of a March election, the South Australian Labor government has said it will increase its renewable energy target to 75% by 2025 and implement 750MW of “renewable storage” if re-elected.

A 3,000MW energy storage target, proposed in Arizona as part of a grid modernisation policy, recognises the role of the technology in reducing the need for fossil fuels to stabilise the grid, a consultant has said.

US systems integrator IHI Energy Storage will build a 500kW / 2.5MWh energy storage system in Japan’s Fukushima region, for completion by April 2018.

In the second part of his exploration of the areas of the world taking a lead in supporting the deployment of storage, Andy Colthorpe looks at Germany, Japan and Puerto Rico.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), has given utility company AGL Energy (AGL) the task of examining the business case for grid-connected energy storage in South Australia, with AGL to receive AUS$445,000 (US$390,000) of funding.