Remaining on the grid while using solar paired with batteries is likely to become a more economically attractive option for commercial and residential customers in key US markets, a new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) claims.

While solar and energy storage are not inextricably linked, at least not yet, storage helps households make the most of their solar power and one day could help grid networks make their final leap of faith. In the second of two blogs from the Energy Storage Europe conference and exhibition in Düsseldorf last week, PV Tech Storage talks to experts and industry figures as they tackled some of the biggest issues facing storage and renewable energy.

Bosch looks likely to become the latest big name to participate in a government-funded micro-grid trial, with the company proposed to receive almost US$3 million from California’s energy policy planning agency.

Demand Energy, an energy storage company, and EnerSys, an industrial battery solutions company, have partnered with a luxury New York property developer to install 1MW of aggregated renewable energy across properties.

The increasing amount of PV installed in combination with electrical storage options is bucking the trend in the opposite direction for overall residential solar installations in Germany.

SunEdison has made a significant first step into the grid-scale energy storage market, with the acquisition of US startup Solar Grid Storage.

US battery manufacturer, ViZn Energy, has teamed with financial services company, LFC Capital, on a programme to lease integrated solar and storage systems to property owners.

Energy storage is likely to be worth “tens of billion dollars in the next five to 10 years” across a number of global regions, according to executives at solar microinverter firm Enphase.

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has revealed that its home battery storage products will be available “fairly soon”.

For decades Australia has been at the forefront in deploying renewable energy, coupled with energy storage solutions, in off grid and fringe of grid areas across remote Australia.  Many communities have transitioned away from polluting and expensive diesel generators and now use reliable and sustainable renewable energy and energy storage solutions.  But it is only now that the full impact of lower energy storage costs are becoming clear, writes John Grimes of the Australian Energy Storage Council.