Japanese financial services company Orix Corporation has invested in UniEnergy Technologies (UET), a US company delivering large-scale energy storage based around its own vanadium flow batteries.
Over two weeks at the beginning of December, unseasonal rains brought Chennai to a standstill. Rahul Walawalkar argues that energy storage-backed mircrogrids are an investment that would add resiliency of supply to extreme weather-affected areas as well as improving overall access to electricity.
German storage manufacturer sonnen will begin selling residential storage systems in the US before Christmas.
Off Grid Electric, a company specialising in providing electrification to rural communities, has created a US$45 million investment vehicle, bringing its total raised this year in equity and debt financing to US$70 million.
A document setting out new policy directions on solar support says the UK government has recognised the potential of energy storage but has decided the feed-in tariff would not be an appropriate mechanism to incentivise uptake.
News in brief: UK pro-solar Conservative politician Gregory Barker and film star Leonardo DiCaprio have joined the advisory board of Powerhive; Ireland’s government has become the latest to recognise the potential of energy storage in its national low carbon transition; and flow battery maker has supplied systems to projects in Europe that demonstrate the technology’s strengths in integrating PV generation.
A utility has been first off the mark to put Tesla Powerwall stationary storage systems on sale in Australia, with installations expected to begin in February.
PV Tech Storage attended the late November launch of sonnenCommunity, a new energy trading platform launched on a limited basis in Germany based on Sonnen’s residential energy storage systems. Andy Colthorpe spoke to two key members of the Sonnen team at the event, CEO Christoph Ostermann and sales director Philipp Schröder.
The first Tesla Powerwall home energy storage systems to go on sale in the US through a utility are being sold through Vermont’s Green Mountain Power which is including a “no upfront cost” option for its customers.
Thin-film PV manufacturer and project developer First Solar is among the investors in a US$50 million funding round for grid-scale storage specialist Younicos, with the money raised set to fuel the latter’s expansion.
