Energy Storage

The CEO of solar testing company TÜV Rheinland has called on politicians in Germany and the European Union to make a huge effort to upgrade grids because, he told an audience at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, “our current network is our lifeline”.

Transparency Market Research has released a new market report that states that global fuel cells demand is estimated to reach US$910.3 million in 2018. In 2011 the demand was worth US$355.3 million.

The Federal Solar Industry Association or BSW welcomes the announcement by the German government to promote the development of solar power storage.

Pike Research’s Brittany E. Gibson is confident that emerging cleantech markets for batteries, especially for transportation and stationary applications, will be viable new markets in ten years.

Falling prices and consolidation will remain in 2013, predicts IHS. Despite this, photovoltaic installations are expected to grow, the demand-supply balance is likely to be restored and China is set to become the biggest global solar market. Overall, the research company has laid out 10 predictions for the coming year.

The EU has announced more than €1.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) of funding for renewable generation projects, including more than €200 million for concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in Greece and Cyprus, and €8.2 million for a smart grid scheme in Belgium.

The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) has inaugurated a 250 kW power to gas research plant with a possible methane production of up to 300 cubic meters per day. This makes it the largest plant of its kind in the world.

A lot that needs to be done to enable the transition towards larger shares of renewables in the power mix. The 5th International Conference on Integration of Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy Resources, which opened today in Berlin, Germany, brought together global participants from the energy sector to discuss the transformation of the power system, the challenges that lie ahead and the solutions.

A team led by Argonne National Lab has been selected for an award of up to US$120 million to establish a new Batteries and Energy Storage Hub over five years.

With QBotix having secured US$1 million and Stion $2 million from the U.S. Energy Department’s SunShot initiative, a further seven projects to secure support in the current round of funding focus on PV, storage and grid integration.