Battery storage has dominated the outcome of the National Grid’s 200MW Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) tender, with the technology to be used for balancing services at grid scale for the first time in the UK.

The proposed 4GW nuclear plant in the UK has been labelled too expensive and too risky but supporters say it is crucial for the UK’s future energy mix. James Blackman looks into the realistic role energy storage technology could play in any mooted alternative plans to keep Britain’s lights on.

EnSync Energy Systems, formerly known as ZBB Energy, announced on Monday the sale of multiple PPAs, including the first ever solar-plus-storage projects sold in Hawaii.

New research predicts the energy storage market in Germany will increase 11-fold in the next five years, with the residential market buoyed by declining feed-in tariffs, high electricity prices and €30 million in subsidies, while the primary reserve market boosts activity within the utilities sector.

The US must open up access to its grid and allow anyone who generates electricity to sell it on, according to an executive from energy storage company sonnen.

VARTA’s energy storage system project manager Michael Gopp discusses the technologies past, present and future.

Trina Best, the energy storage company begun as part of Trina Solar but now a separate entity in its own right, wants to go public by 2020 and has not ruled out building its own battery cell production facilities in future.

Sunamp, a maker of heat batteries from Scotland, UK, was recently selected to go on a special mission to showcase its wares in China as one of a number of startups. Maurizio Zaglio from the company talks about his experiences in Shenzhen.

The White House announcement of new developments and investment in energy storage has been characterised as “the first executive office push for energy storage” that will “undoubtedly galvanize” the industry, in a new GTM Research brief by the firm’s energy storage director Ravi Manghani.