A ‘smart energy’ subsidiary of Japan’s biggest telecommunications company, NTT, has launched an energy storage plant services division.

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.”

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).

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.

Caban Systems, a US battery tech company offering renewable energy solutions to critical infrastructure industries, has raised US$51 million.

Polarium, a Swedish manufacturer of lithium-ion based battery energy storage systems (BESS) technology, has been valued at over a billion dollars.

Redflow has reported a significant rise in revenues from its zinc-bromide flow batteries but the Australian company noted that it expects to remain “cash-flow negative for some time”.