Construction begins on Spain’s first gigafactory
The factory is located in Noblejas, in the province of Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha, and is planned to reach a capacity of 10 GWh by 2025.
Italy has 189 MW/295 MWh of distributed storage capacity
The country added around 73.5 MW/109.2 MWh of new, small-sized storage capacity in 2020. Most of the batteries are in Lombardy and Veneto, where rebates are being offered.
Australian town powered 100% by solar PV and battery
Western Australia utility Horizon Power has achieved a major milestone with the coastal town of Onslow powered 100% by solar PV and battery during a successful trial of what is one of Australia’s largest distributed energy resource microgrids.
FRV builds on Australian portfolio with 2.4 MW/5 MWh solar-storage plant
Fotowatio Renewable Ventures has started building a 5 MW solar-storage hybrid power plant near Dalby, southern Queensland.
General Motors expands EV investments, plans more U.S. battery manufacturing capacity
General Motors said it is accelerating plans for two new battery cell plants in the United States.
Plan to double size of 20 MW Madagascar solar park
The island nation’s first utility scale solar park is set to double in size and have energy storage added, with work due to start this month.
NanoGraf unveils new battery chemistry materials
NanoGra’s silicon-oxide anode material can increase battery capacity in the 18650 form factor by an initial 12% at commercially competitive prices.
Maldives launch tender for 40 MW/40 MWh of storage
The government of the archipelago is tendering the deployment of two big batteries, with capacities of 24 MW/24 MWh and 16 MW/16 MWh, respectively, to store renewable energy for 22 islands.
Cathode discovery ‘opens up new pathways’ for calcium-ion storage
Scientists in South Korea tested a new cathode material as part of a calcium-ion battery (CIB), achieving some impressive results. The material retained more than 90% of it initial capacity after 500 cycles, alongside some of the best performance results seen so far for this technology. The scientists say that this discovery opens up “an unexplored pathway toward the realization of stable and high-power cathodes in CIBs.”
Solarwatt, BMW launch new storage system for residential PV
The smallest of the storage units has a capacity of 4.8 kWh and an output of 1.5 kW. It can be expanded to eight battery modules in steps of 2.4 kWh and has a maximum of 57.6 kWh, and 6 kW, of power.
