In a double-whammy of NMC battery news, SolarEdge has started shipping cells from its new South Korea gigafactory while Lechlanché has claimed a breakthrough in environmentally-friendly cell production.

A roundup of energy storage news stories from Europe.

Manufacturing firm Arxada has started producing Prussian blue materials for Natron sodium-ion battery production while US-based Mitra Chem has hired EPC firm Bechtel to design its LFP cathode facility.

Power management company Eaton is helping to build a microgrid pilot project trialling vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications in Switzerland.

A pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant with a capacity of 20GWh in Valais, Switzerland, will begin operations on Friday, 1 July.

A cross-border platform is being created in Europe for the provision of secondary reserve to maintain the grid’s operating frequency, which will be open to energy storage in the coming years. Tanguy Poirot, analyst, and Corentin Baschet, head of market analysis at energy storage specialist consultancy Clean Horizon take a deep dive.

Switzerland’s largest battery storage system has gone into action stabilising the electricity network for transmission grid operator Swissgrid, asset operator Alpiq has said.

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

Gone are Europe’s weekly FCR auctions, replaced by daily auctions in a move designed to create greater flexibility and improve international co-operation in these markets in Europe, writes Jean-Paul Harreman of EnAppSys.

The new NEC system installed east of Zürich will be used largely for frequency stabilisation.