Two subsidiaries of Wisconsin-based electric and gas company WEC Energy Group have put forward plans for their second large-scale solar-plus-storage project in as many months.

This edition of the round-up is an eclectic mix of stories from the US and Europe.

Vertically-integrated solar PV company Canadian Solar won nearly 1GWh of battery storage contracts in 2020 and CEO Shawn Qu has said it expects to “capture around 10% of the battery storage market in the US alone” during this year.

A combination of renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy storage can be used to effectively retire New York City’s entire fleet of more than 6GW of peaker plants by 2030, a new study has found.

Decision-makers across Canada now recognise the value that energy storage can bring to the grid, with Ontario’s grid operator establishing its first-ever set of market rules for energy storage’s participation.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said yesterday that flow batteries are “good for grid storage” as her Department of Energy (DoE) announced funding to support domestic manufacturing for the energy storage technology.

This year’s Winter Storm Uri caused havoc in Texas, particularly in the energy sector, where extreme weather and a resultant set of generation problems and transmission grid issues led to loss of power and even loss of life across the US state. Ricardo F. Rodriguez, a senior consultant from analysis and research group Guidehouse looks at another aspect of the situation: the impact on the state’s telecommunications infrastructure and how battery energy storage could provide a greater degree of certainty and resilience to this vital network.

Energy storage project developer Convergent Energy + Power has contracted GE Renewable Energy to supply key equipment to a three-site large-scale solar-plus-storage hybrid resource project in New York State.

Stem Inc has revealed its financial results for 2020 ahead of listing on the New York Stock Exchange, admitting that despite expecting a fourfold increase in revenues this year, the company is unlikely to achieve profitability until at least the end of next year.

Large-scale Vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) technology looks set to be deployed at a 100MW solar energy power plant in China, two years after a smaller-scale demonstration project was commissioned in the region.