Solar & Storage Live 2018, the trade exhibition organised by Energy-Storage.news’ & PV Tech’s publisher Solar Media, opens its doors in a week’s time, with around 4,000 pre-registered visitors expected to flock to the NEC, Birmingham, England. Here’s why this year’s event is not to be missed.

EDF Energy has partnered with Nissan to launch a new energy storage proposition using second life batteries with the utility’s proprietary demand side response (DSR) platform in the latest high profile collaboration in the UK energy sector.

Cloud-aggregated virtual power plants using residential or C&I battery storage as part of a smart energy management system can benefit the grid, integrate renewables and EVs and hopefully add a powerful long-term value proposition for home storage. Andy Colthorpe and David Pratt report on how some of the UK’s first VPP projects are proving the concept.

UK Power Reserve, a British developer of flexible electricity assets, has confirmed that battery storage solutions from Fluence will be used to build out its entire 120MW portfolio of projects.

International battery brand Duracell is set to launch a home energy storage system in partnership with a UK energy supply and services company which claims it has enabled big increases in revenues available to owners of the devices.

Installations of sonnen’s latest hybrid battery storage units are underway, alongside new residential solar arrays, as part of a Local Energy Market (LEM) being built by one of the UK’s largest energy companies to test the capabilities of a virtual marketplace of distributed energy resources.

Tim Humpage, head of EPC at British Solar Renewables, discusses some of the key ‘ingredients’ to his company’s work on the 49.9MW Pelham battery, completed on behalf of Statera Energy late last year.