Tucson Electric Power (TEP), a utility in Southern Arizona with around 420,000 customers, has received approval to build two 10MW energy storage systems, including one co-located with solar, from the state’s regulator.

Operators of transmission infrastructure and wholesale markets in the US have supplied their views on energy storage to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), with industry and other stakeholders expected to follow. Energy-Storage.News’ Andy Colthorpe spoke with Energy Storage Association policy expert Jason Burwen on what he describes as a “systematic review” that could have a transformative effect on the market and drivers for storage.

Utility-scale solar projects in a region of Japan affected by fears of grid capacity constraints have been supplied with energy storage, aimed at mitigating the potential effects of output curtailment.

Roundup: A third of US PV installers offer storage and 26% more could join them this year, China’s BYD signs up with UAE’s Masdar, Sunvault and Aboriginal Power’s ‘self-sustaining’ community project.

Deploying battery storage at grid level is relatively uncharted territory, but a number of pioneers’ projects are now in the ground. Patrick Leslie and colleagues at RES, which built some of the first wave of storage projects, teases out the key technology, finance and regulatory lessons the industry can learn from these early experiences.

Unsubsidised, commercial solar-plus-storage projects of the type being executed in Puerto Rico could demonstrate how to overcome many of the challenges imminent for the world’s PV markets, according to one company with experience in the field.

The output of a 16MW solar farm in Puerto Rico will be tied to an Aquion ‘saltwater’ battery, in one of the few current trials of moving solar power produced in the daytime to be used at night.

A renewable energy auction which could take Australia’s capital Canberra over the line in meeting a long-term “90% renewables” target will also lead to the deployment of 5,000 residential and commercial battery storage systems.

In our latest video feature, we discussed the policy and regulatory space for energy storage in the UK with two leading members of the Solar Media Energy Storage Alliance.

Many have predicted 2016 will be the year when energy storage starts to live up to its hype. Andy Colthorpe canvased views from some of the leading figures and companies in the sector on the next developments a market that could help take solar and other renewables to the next level.