Microgrid

Panel discussion at Energy Storage Europe tackled the issue of whether the best way for keeping the lights on as economies around the world grow is to extend the grid network or add energy storage, and found that the best solution lies somewhere in between.

German energy storage provider Younicos is introducing C&I battery storage systems on a rental basis. The company says service is ideal for offgrid industries such as the mining sector.

The keynote session of the Energy Storage Europe conference in Düsseldorf, Germany, delivered a series of presentations on the role flexible sector coupling can play in expediting the adoption of storage technologies and renewable energy, in Germany and worldwide.

Overall, 24 exhibitors from the upcoming Energy Storage Europe event in Germany’s Düsseldorf submitted proposals to the pv magazine Storage Highlights’ jury. They were ranked in the following categories: Relevance to industry; USP; Market impact; Contribution to the energy transition; and Innovation. Read on to discover how they fared.

Researchers in the U.S. have confirmed the existence of a novel state of the element manganese, first proposed in a journal dating from 1928, which could allow for the development of low-cost, high performance batteries for grid level and other energy storage applications.

Despite a lackluster Q4, GTM Research predicts that the U.S. energy storage market is going to boom in 2018, driven by both policy support and falling prices.

The head of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has said that the Japanese company remains committed to renewables development, and has vowed to expand the regional utility’s business beyond its home market in the coming years.

The EU Battery Alliance is calling on industry to take advantage of the expected 2025 €250 billion battery market by establishing between 10 and 20 European giga battery factories. Saft, meanwhile, has announced an alliance with Siemens, Manz and Solvay to work on advanced lithium ion and solid-state battery technology.

As Energy Storage Europe approaches, pv magazine counts down the five highest-ranked energy storage highlights, selected by our independent jury, that visitors to the exhibition can lay their eyes on. In fifth-place was Electrochaea’s scalable methanation plant: A rather quirky hydrogen-to-methane storage innovation that won plaudits for delivering large-scale power-to-gas capability.

Investors throughout the world made 406 investments in large-scale renewables in 2017, collectively valued at roughly €40.1 billion (US$49.5 billion), but solar is set to grow more in terms of capacity than any other clean-energy technology over the next half decade, according to a new report. Battery storage will play a crucial role in this, it found.