The Energy Storage Digital Series, an online-only conference and webinar series, produced and hosted by the events division of our publisher Solar Media kicked off yesterday. Here are some highlights and key quotes from opening panel discussion: ‘Predicting the energy storage tech of the future’.

Two grid-scale battery energy storage projects, one just completed in Texas and one just announced in California, give an indication of the growing market opportunities in the US’ regional grid operators’ service areas.

Accelerator selected the maker of an organic flow battery among a group of “startups with the potential to dramatically alter the future global energy landscape”.

Vanadium redox flow batteries are almost as reliable as diesel generators in providing resiliency, but won’t be competitive against lithium-ion unless cost reductions can be achieved with the scaling up of manufacturing and deployment.

The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) that can be achieved today for battery energy storage means that “new-build batteries can be competitive on cost with gas peaker plants,” according to BloombergNEF.

Three European Transmission System Operators (TSO) have collaborated to launch a new, blockchain-based flexibility platform, Equigy.

An Ontario college will use a large-scale lithium-ion battery system from Wartsila to “minimise” its Global Adjustment Charge (GAC), the Canadian province’s means of paying for grid infrastructure as well as green energy policies that can constitute as much as 60% of monthly electricity bills.

Microgrids can offer a resilient and secure alternative for both rural and city communities. Molly Lempriere looks at some of the microgrids around the world that are transforming the way neighbourhoods produce and consume electricity.

Australian stock exchange-listed flow battery manufacturer Redflow has scored a second order for its devices from the Rural Connectivity Group, a New Zealand-based telecommunications company.

There exist opportunities for flow batteries to target areas of the market lithium-ion “can’t provide in an economically justifiable way,” the chief commercial officer of Invinity Energy Systems has said.