Hitachi ABB Power Grids will supply battery energy storage and smart controls to Singapore’s first virtual power plant (VPP), on a project aimed at validating methods for integrating more renewable energy onto the city-state’s electricity networks.

Singapore-headquartered microgrid company Canopy Power has partnered with Total Solar Distributed Generation (DG) to build a hybrid project for a remote resort island in Cambodia that includes 2MWh of battery storage.

Fluence has announced that it has been contracted to deliver a large tranche of projects in Southeast Asia, but has agreed with its customer not to reveal yet which country they will be located in.

The pilot project, which comprises two 1MW components, has been billed by its backers as the country’s first grid-scale distributed battery system.

Panellists at the opening day of Solar and Off-Grid Renewables Southeast Asia event in Bangkok warned that investors who come on board quickest are going to gain a huge advantage as solar-plus-storage starts to become viable at scale.

German energy storage system and energy management services provider Sonnen has made its first play for home storage markets in the Philippines and Malaysia.

Energy storage deployments in emerging markets could grow 40% annually over the next five years, from 2GW today to 80GW, but barriers include the lack of access to low-cost capital, a new report from the International Finance Corporation has found

Zinc-air battery-based energy storage system maker Fluidic Energy has received US$20 million in investment for projects in south-east Asia from a private equity fund which includes the Asian Development Bank as a partner.

Poor grid flexibility in Indonesia means energy storage could be critical leverage when trying to install solar and wind projects.

Some news in brief from around the world of energy storage this week: Manz underlines positive assessment of energy storage sector with US$55 million deals, Sonnenbatterie backs US push with investment from INVEN Capital, local sources report AES wants to build 250MW of projects in Philippines.