Mitsubishi Corporation said today that it is partnering with major Japanese telecoms provider NTT to “study cooperation” in renewables, energy management using electric vehicles and battery energy storage, while according to reports, NTT is investing around US$1 billion a year in renewable energy up to 2030.

“This next phase we’ve entered is a large number of projects in a lot of places,” Fluence VP for marketing and strategy, Brian Perusse, tells Energy-Storage.news.

A roundup of news in brief from the energy storage industry, this time with a special focus on the UK market.

Kruger Energy said that along with smart software and technology solutions company Peak Power, it has deployed three commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage projects into a behind-the-meter virtual power plant (VPP).

For Japan, the famous 4Ds of the energy transition – creating a distributed, decarbonised, decentralised and digitised grid – will involve a huge scaling up of smart solutions on a market basis, various sources have told Energy-Storage.news.

Following on from our look at some of the takeovers of promising or already-prolific energy storage companies in the last edition of PV Tech Power, here’s an exclusive interview with Convergent Energy + Power CEO Johannes Ritterhausen.

Renewable energy supplier and project developer Neoen has begun construction on the largest grid-connected energy storage system in mainland France, a 6MW / 6MWh system which will provide frequency regulation services.

Cloud-aggregated virtual power plants using residential or C&I battery storage as part of a smart energy management system can benefit the grid, integrate renewables and EVs and hopefully add a powerful long-term value proposition for home storage. Andy Colthorpe and David Pratt report on how some of the UK’s first VPP projects are proving the concept.

Regulatory changes at the national level coupled with policy programmes in leading states will drive residential and commercial energy storage to new heights, according to various sources at this week’s Energy Storage International in California.

In part 2 of a technical paper first published in PV Tech Power Vol.13, Alex Eller of Navigant Research continues his look at how one of the most significant expenses for electric utilities, maintaining and upgrading transmission and distribution (T&D) networks, could be undercut using non-wires alternatives – including energy storage.