Jennifer Downing, senior advisor to the Loan Programs Office at the US Department of Energy (DOE) and author of a recent report into virtual power plant technology, speaks to Energy-Storage.news.

The versatility of battery storage to provide a broad range of services makes them “particularly valuable” to virtual power plants (VPPs), according to a senior advisor to the US Department of Energy (DOE).

Sodium-sulfur (NAS) battery storage manufacturer NGK Insulators has formed partnerships aimed at distributed and utility-scale segments.

New South Wales has submitted an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for its Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).

Germany-headquartered energy firm RWE is installing its first battery storage project in the Netherlands, with a 35MW unit virtually coupled with a biomass plant it operates.

Developer NGEN is deploying the largest battery storage projects in Slovenia, Austria and Croatia, and wants to take its model beyond CEE too, CEO and co-founder Roman Bernard said.

Virtual power plant (VPP) projects using home batteries have been launched and extended in Texas, Vermont and California.

Xcel Energy has launched scheme in Colorado, rewarding customers for allowing utility to use battery storage to provide grid services.

Germany and US residential battery storage and VPP provider sonnen’s network of batteries in Germany has reached 250MWh, and will hit 1GWh in the next few years, it said.