This edition of news in brief from around the world in energy storage features Engie, Econergy and Inion Software in Central and Eastern Europe.

A regulatory change is opening Germany’s energy markets to 23GWh of home batteries. The co-CEO of VPP platform Flexa discusses what it could mean for the market.

Tech giant Google, Tesla, utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and distributed energy resource (DER)-focused company Sunrun are launching a new virtual power plant (VPP) in California, US.

Two VPP bills are awaiting California Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature, meanwhile, Octopus Energy US has completed its investment in Uplight.

Shell has sold sonnen, the residential battery storage company it acquired in 2019, as the oil & gas major focuses its attention on “portfolio high-grading efforts.”

Sunrun has agreed with distributed energy resource platform Voltus to support its Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) programmes for AI hyperscalers.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has released a proposal for the next phase of its Garden State Energy Storage Programme (GSESP) consisting of approximately 150MW of energy storage capacity in the US state.

California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee advanced two virtual power plant (VPP) bills aimed at reducing energy rates in the US state.

Home energy management company Plentify will put over 160,000 connected home battery storage systems in South Africa into a virtual power plant (VPP).

Eversource and National Grid will enable customers in Massachusetts to enrol vehicle-to-grid (V2G) -capable EVs in their demand side flexibility programme.