Minigrid

Germany-based PV-storage provider sonnen has closed a new funding round from a group of investors led by Shell Ventures. Sonnen has already began to draw on the funds as it continues to expand market shares in the U.S. and in Australia. Shell Ventures is now a major sonnen investor and future cooperation agreement has been agreed to.

The latest report by Mercom Capital finds VC investment in battery storage companies rising five-fold year-over-year to $299 million in 12 deals.

National trade association, the ESA has published a roadmap for the adoption of 35 GW of energy storage in the U.S., as well as outlining the benefits of such a move. pv magazine USA spoke with CEO, Kelly Speakes-Backman about storage and the challenges of state-level advocacy at ESA’s annual conference in Boston.

Analyst data records 53% annual growth in storage in 2017, rising to 1.9 GW as South Korea climbed to top of the tree in terms of cumulative capacity. Global project pipeline has soared to 10.4 GW.

The Indian multinational EPC has this week unveiled a new global division that will focus on the development of power+storage hybrid solutions. The new unit will focus initially on lighting up remote islands and has an installation target of 1 GW.

Price of cobalt, a raw material used in lithium-ion batteries, rose 26% in the first quarter of the year, following 114% annual increase in 2017, finds EnergyTrend. Suppliers may look at ways to lower cobalt content in new iterations, experts say.

A session at BNEF’s Future of Energy Summit explored how renewables paired with energy storage are successfully competing with new gas plants.

Inaugural global energy storage report by GTM Research finds that Australia’s behind-the-meter storage market tripled in 2017, while the U.S. remains the world’s leading market with an installed energy capacity of 431 MWh. China poised to rise to second place globally in 2019.

Aggreko-owned storage system experts Younicos claimed first place in the pv magazine Energy Storage Highlights award. Alexander Schönfeldt, the company’s VP sales EMEA, describes this award-winning concept and reveals more details about Younicos’ new rental storage system.

‘Unprecedented challenge’ for fossil fuels as low LCOE for solar and wind power, allied to tumbling storage costs, sees renewables claim larger share of bulk and dispatchable generation while adding vital flexibility to global energy mix.