Clearly, renewable energy is now a viable alternative to traditional generation from a cost perspective. However solar and wind’s penetration of the grid is constrained by ageing infrastructure, high grid connection costs and their intermittent, weather-dependent nature. Scott McGregor looks at how long-duration energy storage on an industrial scale can help.

Utility San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Sumitomo Electric (SEI) have launched a 2MW/8MWh pilot vanadium redox flow battery storage project in California to study how the technology can reliably integrate renewable energy and improve flexibility in grid management.

Property and infrastructure group Lendlease has signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) to deliver solar, battery storage and microgrid projects across Australia with Carnegie Clean Energy.

Vanadium redox flow technology provider redT energy reported a loss of €2.7 million in H1 2016 compared to a profit of €0.1 million in H1 2015, in line with the company’s expectations.

Vanadium redox flow technology provider redT energy has passed its G59 pre-testing for its 15kW / 240kWh vanadium flow energy storage systems, which are located at the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) in Cumbernauld, Scotland.

Energy storage provider Schmid Energy Systems has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with vanadium supplier VanadiumCorp Resource to jointly work on mineral extraction and developing vanadium electrolyte.

Japanese financial services company Orix Corporation has invested in UniEnergy Technologies (UET), a US company delivering large-scale energy storage based around its own vanadium flow batteries.