In the hierarchy of grid needs, peaking power is often a priority in terms of providing resiliency and balance to the network. This is usually provided by natural gas turbines, which come at a high environmental and economic cost. Andy Colthorpe charts the rise of the solar-plus-storage peaker plant.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of the recognition of behind-the-meter storage so far this year has been the acquisition of Sonnen by oil major Shell. CEO Christoph Ostermann spoke to Andy Colthorpe about why home storage uptake could be on a worldwide series of inflection points.

Statkraft has partnered with energy & meteo systems to launch a 1GW wind, solar and battery storage virtual power plant in the UK, which it says will further renewables’ penetration into the country’s energy market.

Engineering company Siemens has launched the device – configurable in 3.3kWh ‘blocks’ up to 19.8kWh – in Germany, with an Austria launch to follow in April.

Managing investor expectations and monetising demand for flexibility are key to future-proofing the industry’s business case, financiers stress at Energy Storage Summit.

Perth-based Hybrid Systems and BayWa r.e. have reaped the lion’s share of the first round of a programme to roll out ‘standalone power systems’ (SPS) across Western Australia.

Flow battery maker Avalon has initiated a novel business model aimed at lowering the cost of deployment of its energy storage units, effectively ‘renting’ the electrolytes in the devices to a customer in California.

With carbon reduction goals a long way off from being met in Europe’s transport sector, energy storage can play a key role in coupling transportation and energy technologies, the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) has said.

A new poll has identified energy storage as the most promising technology for institutional investors keen on renewable assets, amid plans by many to ramp up allocations.

SA Water, which delivers water to more than one-and-a-half million people in South Australia, has picked out local contractor Enerven to execute the roll-out of PV and battery storage across 70 of its facilities in the next 18 months.