The optimal integration of distributed energy resources such as solar, battery storage and smart thermostats becomes an ever-more complex and pressing question. Rahul Kar, general manager and VP for New Energy at AutoGrid Systems looks at the role artificial intelligence can play in smarter energy networks.

Battery system integrators must navigate a broad array of technologies and varying market drivers when putting systems together. Andy Colthorpe speaks to Powin Energy and Sungrow about the engineering challenges involved in building lithium-ion battery storage systems at scale.

In the second of a two-part series for this journal, Jens Noack, Nataliya Roznyatovskaya, Chris Menictas and Maria Skyllas-Kazacos from CENELEST, a joint research venture between the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology and the University of New South Wales, examine the potential of vanadium redox flow batteries in the future energy system.

With Japanese companies keen to learn from their counterparts in deregulated energy markets such as the UK, the Japan Energy Challenge provided the ideal forum for exchanging ideas. Andy Colthorpe reports.

Ensuring battery systems used in conjunction with solar perform safely and optimally is essential in ensuring the continued roll-out of storage technology. Robert Puto and Gerhard Klein of TÜV SÜD examine independent technical assessments that must be undertaken before a storage system is built.

Last year saw large-scale storage come of age in the USA and Canada, with some heavyweight storage portfolios starting to take shape. Speaking to four leading North American developers, Andy Colthorpe takes the pulse of a market poised for growth.

Paul Verrill, director of energy data analyst EnAppSys, explains how renewable energy generation and the integration of smart grid technologies and efficient energy storage systems can create a sustainable power system for the future.

Despite making huge strides forward, the energy storage industry’s work in helping stakeholders across the value chain understand the technologies and the roles they can play in a renewable energy future is far from done. Andy Colthorpe speaks with Energy Storage Association chief executive, Kelly Speakes-Backman, at the forefront of the industry’s push into unchartered regulatory, policy and public affairs matters.

While lithium-ion batteries get most of the headlines, long-duration energy storage solutions are gaining ground. Alice Grundy and Andy Colthorpe profile some of established and emerging concepts in this this increasingly important class of storage technologies.

As energy storage becomes an increasingly integral part of a renewables-based electricity system, new technologies are coming to the fore. Jens Noack, Nataliya Roznyatovskaya, Chris Menictas and Maria Skyllas-Kazacos from CENELEST, a joint research venture between the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology and the University of New South Wales, chart the rise of redox flow batteries, a promising alternative to lithium-ion-based systems.