Leaders in the fledgling commercial and industrial (C&I) sector in the US have made energy storage ‘as-a-service’ the core of their proposition, a market analyst has said.

With energy storage deployments in the US up almost 50% year-on-year, according to GTM Research analysis, the next big question for the industry might be who gets to own all of the assets.

California investor-owned utility (IO) Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has furthered its commitment towards the state’s mandated target for energy storage deployment by utilities, putting 165MW of contracts forward to regulator California Public Utilities’ Commission (CPUC) for approval.

Start-up Romeo Power has opened a lithium battery pack factory in Los Angeles, aimed at the EV and stationary energy storage markets, aiming to ramp up to 4GWh production capacity by next year.

Younicos has completed the installation and commissioning of an upgraded 3MW battery-based energy storage system on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Younicos replaced the previously installed lead-acid systems with advanced lithium-ion batteries — expanding the system’s operational lifetime while boosting performance.

Gavilan College has selected SunPower to deploy a fully integrated solar and storage project on its campus in Gilroy, California.

The Selma-Kingsburg-Fowler County Sanitation District (SKFCSD) held a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 8 to celebrate the start of construction on an integrated solar/battery storage system that will help power treatment facilities across 222 hectares of SKFCSD service territory.

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has applauded the coming together of National Grid and his Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to jointly research areas including grid-scale storage and grid modernisation.

Sunrun CEO Lynn Jurich has said that using behind-the-meter systems to provide grid services could be “extremely valuable in certain targeted ways” as the company rolls out energy storage systems into key regional markets.

A planned energy storage system backed with a diesel generator could remove the need to build an expensive undersea cable to serve the island of Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts in the US.