Saft wins deal with Saudi Arabian industrial giant, Swiss college adds battery to smart grid research and an energy storage caucus hits Capitol Hill.

Elon Musk’s Tesla has done the rest of the storage industry a big favour by putting a price point on lithium-ion batteries, according to the CEO of Sonnenbatterie’s North American operations.

Germany’s residential storage system maker Sonnenbatterie will continue its push into the US, partnering with Sungevity, the residential PV installer founded by environmental activist and cleantech entrepreneur Danny Kennedy.

An advanced microgrid comprised of four smaller, interlinking grids has been unveiled in Texas by power electronics firm S&C and energy management company Schneider.

The deployment of energy storage in the US is set to triple in 2015 compared to 2014, according to a new report by GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association (ESA).

Earlier this year New York governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled plans for an “energy modernisation initiative that will fundamentally transform the way electricity is distributed and used in New York State”. This will include the creation of a leading energy storage marketplace, argues Bill Radvak, chief executive officer of American Vanadium, whose company recently installed a vanadium flow battery storage system for New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority in Manhattan.

SolarCity looks likely to resume its programme of deploying residential energy storage systems in California, following a preliminary ruling by the state’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) appeared to rule in the company’s favour.