Energy Storage

Europe’s leading solar trade body, SolarPower Europe, has called on the European Union to set a renewable energy target of 35% to be achieved by 2030, which may require flexible regulatory frameworks. Echoing the conclusion arrived at by the IEA, the former European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has called for Europe to demonstrate its leadership in solar and renewables with a concrete target.

GTM Research reports that large energy storage projects made up the bulk of new capacity, but the distributed energy storage market is growing even faster. Lithium-ion batteries dominated deployments during the year.

The Clean Energy Council calls for new energy tariffs that would allow Australian householders to realize the economic benefits of installing a battery storage.

The battery subsidiary of German carmaker Daimler will begin construction of a new €500 million (US$544 million) lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in the third quarter of this year. The factory will produce batteries for electric and hybrid Mercedes-Benz and smart cars, along with stationary storage products for commercial and residential customers.

The California company’s Customer Self Supply program offers a customized combination of solar, battery storage, smart electric water heater and Nest Learning Thermostat.

German utility giant will develop own storage system with Dresden-based Solarwatt GmbH based on MyReserve technology; first models to be rolled out in Germany over coming months.

German solar and storage installer Praml has completed two of the first installations of Tesla’s 6.4 kWh residential battery system, the Powerwall, in the country. Praml has installed two Tesla Powerwall systems reporting that the install took a team of two around five hours.

Despite shipping a record 706 MW of microinverters, the U.S. company ended 2015 at a loss following a profit-making 2014; fourth quarter losses amounted to $15.8 million.

The strategic cooperation between the storage integration specialist and Bluetech Financing Solutions will deliver plug-and-play storage solutions to Australia, Pacific Islands and GCC nations of the Middle East.

BNEF calculates that 57 GW of solar PV was installed last year, marking an increase of around 30% on 2014. Latest figures also show that, despite factors which could have impeded growth, clean energy financing reached US$329.3 billion in 2015. Chinese and U.S. markets led the charge, alongside a host of new markets; European activity, however, decreased.