Distributed Storage

German battery manufacturer Intilion has released the Scalestac commercial energy storage system, which features a built-in safety feature for fire containment, in order to minimize damages to single modules. It is available in capacities ranging from 123 kWh to 1 MWh.

Startup Morrow Batteries has raised €100 million ($105.9 million) in a funding round led by Siemens and ABB. It will use the money to build its first battery cell factory in Norway, its home market.

Belgian heating specialist Wanit has developed a solar water heater that purportedly reduces the cost of domestic hot water by 85%. The PV water heater solution includes a main dual tank and a solar connector that links the tank with a rooftop PV system and residential battery.

In other news, Tesla expands Supercharger access for other EV brands in Europe, Hong Kong gets its first universal ultra-rapid charging station, and BMW invests in Canadian company Mangrove to back sustainable lithium metal production.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a call for homeowners to check their residential energy storage systems, amid a national recall of that batteries due to concerns about overheating.

UK-based Synchrostor has developed a new pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) system. It is purportedly fully reversible in 30 milliseconds and can achieve a round-trip efficiency of around 70%. The proposed storage technology can also provide grid inertia and ancillary services.

Scientists in the United Arab Emirates have looked at how off-grid rooftop PV could be combined with batteries, fuel cells or reversible solid oxide cells for energy storage. The modeling assumed a typical commercial building in Los Angeles.

South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution presented its latest innovations at the Smarter E event in Munich last week. It also announced its transition from nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery chemistry to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) in its future products.

Indian scientists have developed a system under which a pumped-hydro facility stores grid electricity during off-peak hours by pumping water to an upper reservoir. During peak hours, the system feeds the load, rather than taking power from the grid.

German researchers have developed a new shape-stabilized phase change material with the ability to store up to five times more thermal energy than commercially available PCMs.