Telecoms specialist Elisa is deploying battery and PV systems at base towers in Finland, which will “implement virtual power plant (VPP) optimisation of locally produced solar energy.”

Telecoms firm Elisa Corporation has signed a contract to bring its distributed energy storage (DES) solution to Finnish mobile networks. 

Europe’s telecommunications sector has the potential to deploy 15GWh of distributed energy storage (DES), halving its energy costs and helping the energy transition, Finnish telecoms firm Elisa said discussing its new DES solution with Energy-Storage.news.

This year has seen major energy storage deployment plans announced by telecommunications network operators in Finland and Germany, and substantial fundraises by ESS firms targeting the segment.

Polarium, a Sweden-headquartered energy storage system manufacturer, has raised SEK562 million (US$48.3 million).

German telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom has place its second battery storage order this year, for 60MWh of systems from Intilion.

Deutsche Telekom has announced the first battery energy storage system installation in a 300MWh rollout in Germany, with Norwegian firm Pixii the technology provider.

Finland telecommunications firm Elisa has received €3.9 million from the government to form a VPP using batteries which could be the largest of its kind in Europe.

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.

Dozens of zinc-bromine flow battery units will be deployed at 56 remote telecommunications stations in Australia, supplied by manufacturer Redflow.