United Kingdom

At an event in London, a new tool was presented which lets the user track the UK storage landscape. The market is gaining traction amidst disfavourable policies for solar PV and other renewables from Westminster. The UK’s storage portfolio seems to be growing rapidly.

The government may not fancy solar much, but that won’t stop the sector bouncing back big-time … albeit in two years’ time. Maybe London’s Underground network can help kick-start a desperately needed solar renaissance.

Local authority West Sussex County Council has commissioned the 7.4 MW Westhampnett Solar Farm, co-located with a 4.4 MW lithium-ion battery. The project was built without government subsidy, according to the council, and is expected to deliver significant income over its 25-year lifetime.

Solar trade lobby group the STA has voiced its disapproval after Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday announced plans to ease the tax burden on workers but had nothing to offer an industry which has seen a 95% fall in installations in three years.

The smart battery storage supplier has launched a 35 MWh cluster in Japan. This could grow to over 100 MWh within a year, says Moixa.

Analysts have released a report which examines multiple carbon pricing scenarios, and their effect on UK power bills, renewables and the carbon budget. The UK’s Carbon Price Support could be lowered in the autumn budget next week, putting the nation further off course on its carbon budget. A high CPS would foster renewables, without driving electricity bills up.

Bankset Energy Corporation has ambitious plans to install gigawatts of solar PV on railway sleepers across the globe. While the first installation took place in Switzerland, work is under way on projects in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, China and Italy; and gearing up in Austria and Spain. pv magazine speaks to Bankset Group president, Patrick Buri.

EDF has launched yet another ambitious plan, this time aiming to become the leader in e-mobility by 2022. It has outlined three targets, and cemented new partnerships, to achieve this goal.

Siemens subsidiary, Fluence has announced it will provide an additional 60 MW battery to power company UK Power Reserve, expanding the cooperation between the two companies to 120 MW, which Fluence says makes it the largest contracted energy storage portfolio transaction to date globally.

The global top three companies have not changed compared to the 2017 ranking. Still in the U.S., SMA has lost its pole position to Solaredge. Ingeteam, meanwhile, is capitalizing massively on stable growth in the utility-scale market, and jumps from rank 18 to fourth.