Iron-air battery technology firm Form Energy has won a US$30 million grant for a new 5MW/500MWh energy storage project in California.

The US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO) is continuing to work with battery recycling firm Li-Cycle on its loan application, a spokesperson told Energy-Storage.news, after Republican lawmakers questioned the LPO director’s role in granting the loan to the firm.

Hawaii’s main utility Hawaiian Electric has entered into contract negotiations with the developers of 15 renewable energy projects, including solar, wind and a combined 2.1GWh of energy storage.

Li-Cycle is exploring “strategic alternatives” after pausing work on its main recycling facility in New York following soaring project costs while industry peer AquaMetals claims to Energy-Storage.news that its facility is 60% cheaper to build.

A roundup of long-duration energy storage (LDES) news from around the world this week.

The European Commission, along with governments of Australia, the US and Canada, have backed a new initiative to promote battery storage.

Investors SUSI Partners and SMT Energy have added 10 BESS projects in the ERCOT, Texas market, building on an already-operational 100MW portfolio in the state.

A vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) with a 24-hour discharge duration will be built and tested in a project launched by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and VRFB technology provider Invinity Energy Systems.

Interest rate rises and longer development timelines have driven a fall in the value of early-stage projects in the US clean energy and energy storage market and a flurry of sell-offs, developer-operator Agilitas Energy told Energy-Storage.news.

System integrator Ameresco will build a maximum 50MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in partnership with Silicon Valley Power (SVP), the non-profit utility of the city of Santa Clara, California.