Key contracts have been awarded in Queensland, Australia, to work on what would be the world’s largest pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant.

The government of Bangladesh and potential investors into energy storage in the South Asian country were handed a European Union-funded roadmap for the technology’s development last week.

Japanese conglomerate Itochu is launching its first grid-scale BESS project with utility Osaka Gas and finance group Tokyo Century Leasing.

Australian Vanadium, targeting vertically integrated involvement in the flow battery market, has received the first payment from a government grant to support its manufacturing plans.

New South Wales has approved plans to increase maximum sizing of battery storage at what could be Australia’s largest project of its type.

A battery storage system made with second life EV batteries has been developed by carmaker Toyota and Japanese utility company Tokyo Electric Power.

UGL has been selected to design, test and commission a BESS which will provide power for BHP’s iron ore port in Western Australia.

Japan’s Marubeni Corporation working with Vietnamese battery and energy-as-a-service provider VinES to develop energy storage facilities.

A tender will open in a few days’ time under NSW’s electricity system roadmap through which 550MW of long-duration storage could be procured.

All 192 of the 3.5-tonne batteries at the first large-scale battery storage system (BESS) in the Northern Territory have been installed.