A seasonal heat storage plant which will have a capacity of about 90GWh looks set to begin construction next year in Vantaa, Finland, with water stored in underground caverns heated to 140°C using renewable energy and waste heat.

Two startups seeking to disrupt the energy sector with novel long-duration energy storage technologies have formed partnerships with established industry players.

Battery storage is flexible, remarkable — and investable — but you need to know what you’re doing and know where the market opportunities and limits lie. Renewable and clean energy financier Laurent Segalen from Megawatt-X explains some of the things he’s seen as batteries have become an infrastructure asset in their own right.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said the state is “exploring every resource available as a potential tool to address climate change,” as funding was announced for long-duration energy storage technologies along with investigation on the role of green hydrogen in decarbonisation.

Talen Energy, a US independent power producer (IPP) with a 13GW portfolio of generation assets, has contracted energy storage developer Key Capture Energy to install a battery storage system at the site of a coal power plant in Maryland.

The cooling of commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings accounts for a significant percentage of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), but can instead be turned into “powerful energy assets.”

Energy storage can make a “positive contribution everywhere” in Southeast Asia, but the industry needs to be proactive in helping market regulators to understand the best ways to facilitate its role in their energy systems.

Texas’ ERCOT market has been one of the US’ fastest-growing regions for renewable energy, but recent weather-driven events have made it clear that more needs to be done to ensure electricity system reliability. The answers are already here, affordable and practical, argues Wayne Muncaster, vice-president at commercial demand response platform technology group GridBeyond.

Infrastructure service provider Lumea has opened up a process to tender for a 300MW grid-connected battery project near Melbourne, Australia, intending to build the project without government funding.

The state government of Queensland, Australia, has committed to a AU$14 million (US$10.5 million) project to refurbish and modernise a 570MW pumped storage hydroelectric plant.