Energy Vault has become the latest startup with a novel, non-lithium battery energy storage technology to attract significant investment, raising US$100 million through a Series C funding round. 

Major US renewables investor Capital Dynamics has spun off its US clean energy infrastructure arm and merged it with its former asset management affiliate to create Arevon Energy, a new multi-gigawatt solar and energy storage platform.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said yesterday that flow batteries are “good for grid storage” as her Department of Energy (DoE) announced funding to support domestic manufacturing for the energy storage technology.

World Bank Group has set up a “global international partnership” to support the deployment of energy storage in developing countries, just a few months after committing a US$1 billion sum to the sector.

The economics of rural electrification using microgrids should be considered an investment for the future, akin to how Silicon Valley tech providers plough money into initially loss-leading products and services, the chief of developer and manufacturer Solar Philippines has said.

First developed by NASA, flow batteries are a potential answer to storing solar – and wind – for eight to 10 hours, far beyond what is commonly achieved today with lithium-ion. In the second of a two-part special report, Andy Colthorpe dives deeper into questions of bankability, market segmentation and manufacturing strategies with four very different providers of flow energy storage technology.

Home battery storage company Moixa is to expand its GridShare aggregation platform to include third party units for the first time after securing over a quarter of a million pounds from the UK government.

At this year’s Intersolar Europe trade show in Munich, South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI is exhibiting a range of high-capacity, high-voltage residential storage modules.

Microgrids are about more than novel off-grid systems. They could be the building blocks of the future, flexible, intelligent electricity network. S&C Electric discusses how one early project is helping prove the point.

While seeming “tech breakthroughs” garner a great deal of media attention, the three key factors in determining the likely impact of storage tech companies are innovative technology, scalability and a proven track record, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst has said.