Energy Storage

Last September, GE Energy invested US$3.2 billion in acquiring Converteam. In an interview with pv magazine, Stefan Franko, business leader for renewables at GE’s Power Conversion business, talks about photovoltaic inverter technology, global markets and what the GE acquisition has brought to the Converteam table.

China’s central government is said to be pushing for photovoltaic consolidation in its domestic industry. This, photovoltaic storage solutions, and balancing cost and quality control were some of the key themes at Solarpraxis’ first PV Module and PV Power Plant Workshop – China 2012.

A Pike Research report released today predicts that the Asia Pacific energy storage market will be worth $12 billion by 2022, with a capacity of 25 GW.

The U.K. government has made £20 million available to encourage innovation in energy storage systems.

Earlier this week, pv magazine visited BYD Company Limited in the outskirts of Shanghai to discuss the company’s solar and storage plans with Tom Zhao, general manager of BYD Solar Division.

Solar storage solutions are integral to the further development of the photovoltaics industry. However, cowboys “looking to make a quick buck” need not apply, as stable and sustainable market development is required, according to feedback from EuPD Research’s first “Storage & Solar Briefing”.

Venture capital firm Aster Capital, sponsored by Alstom, Solvay Rhodia and Schneider Electric, has announced a €4 million investment in SolarFuel GmbH. This is part of a €7.5 million financing round that Aster Capital is leading. The investment round includes Ventrex Automotive GmbH from Austria.

As a part of its plan to facilitate better demand-side management of electricity usage, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has launched its Green Button Connect system. The software aims at providing electricity usage data to customers and to solar installers, to allow for more integrated photovoltaic and demand-side electricity solutions.

Japan’s Kyocera Corporation has opened the first international smart grid demonstration project on U.S. soil at Los Alamos in New Mexico.

Grid connection and stability issues can be overcome to encompass a more electricity-intensive energy mix in Europe, with photovoltaics supplying up to 25% of that demand by 2030. The findings have been released in a report by EPIA on the first day of the EU PVSEC tradeshow, which began today in Frankfurt.