The widespread deployment of cost-effective, grid-scale energy storage solutions may still be distant, but the technology appears to be commercially viable. The next step: Getting projects funded and online.

Storing electricity on a large scale has been pursued for years by electric utilities in hopes of using the power to cover periods of peak demand. The ability to store large amounts of power will help power producers fill the production gaps created by growing amounts of intermittent generation such as solar and wind power.

After years of limited progress, several capable systems for storing large amounts of power have emerged from research and development efforts borne from new mandates for energy storage capacity and public demand for cleaner power supplies. Some grid-scale systems are viable now, while others are on the verge of viability.

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It’s a common trope in the U.S. power sector to talk about the day that energy storage “went mainstream,” and was introduced to a broader audience beyond energy and technology circles.

Though batteries have been around for decades, that day was about a year ago — April 30, 2015, to be exact. That was the day Tesla Motors introduced its first two energy storage products, the residential Powerwall and the grid-scale Powerpack.

Coming from a household name like Tesla, whose fashionable electric cars are seen as pacesetters in the automotive industry, the batteries sparked new consumer interest in energy storage, and pre-orders for the product soared.

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The global battery energy storage system market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 37.0% between 2016 and 2022 and is expected to reach USD 6.81 billion by 2022.

The factors driving the battery energy storage system market are the increasing demand for grid-connected solutions, growing electric vehicle market, high requirement of lithium-ion batteries in various applications, and government support are expected to boost the growth of the battery energy storage system market.

The residential and transportation application areas offer a huge growth potential for battery energy storage system. The electric vehicles are expected to gain traction as they are zero-emission vehicles and produce no direct emissions. The BEVs use no other fuel and widespread use of these vehicles could dramatically reduce the petroleum consumption.

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THE INSTALLATION OF a 2-MW battery-based energy storage system at a retired coal plant in New Richmond, Ohio, is being billed as a sign of the growing potential of repurposing shuttered sites for grid-scale energy storage.

In addition to being completed in record time — about four months — the Duke Energy project, which provides frequency regulation services to the Northeastern PJM market, is also seen as a way for Duke to make money on a 60-year-old plant it was ready to mothball.

The system at the old W.C. Beckjord plant is designed to instantaneously absorb excess energy from the grid and release it in seconds, as opposed to a power plant that could take 10 minutes or more to ramp up.

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Batteries can store energy for later, but companies are looking for cheaper alternatives. Three reporters examine technologies that employ air, salt and ice.

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San Diego Gas and Electric has signed a contract with Hecate Energy Bancroft for a 20 MW energy storage system. It was reported that this amount of electricity will be enough for 28,000 households for four hours. The lithium-ion battery system will be the largest in the San Diego area.

“Furthermore, SDG&E is proud to launch an advanced energy storage facility to harness solar, wind and other sources of energy so that we can supply it to our customers when they need it most,” explained Scott Drury, an SDG&E executive.

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HERNDON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Greensmith Energy, one of the largest providers of energy storage software and turn-key solutions, announced 70 megawatts of energy storage deployments – all powered by the company’s proven GEMS software platform. While most of the capacity was integrated and installed by the company over the past two years, Greensmith is also reporting growth in software licensing as punctuated by the 53MWh software-as-a-service contract awarded earlier this year by Deltro Energy. Greensmith is on track to install over 100 megawatts of energy storage in 2016 after announcing last December, an $18.3 million round of growth funding led by American Electric Power and E.ON. Advanced, grid-scale systems delivered to large power producers and utilities drove most of the cumulative total, however, the company notes increased microgrid and behind-the-meter business in locations such as Puerto Rico and San Diego where the company deployed solar-integrated systems in 2015.

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A joint venture between Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) and SunEdison Inc. will see 50MW of energy storage systems delivered to the electric utility Southern California Edison(SCE). The project will locate battery storage systems on-site at commercial and industrial customers’ premises.  SCE has bought capacity from the two companies under a 10 year contract, and is part of their plan to add 2.2 GW of cleaner resources, including the integration of renewables and energy storage systems by 2022.

The AMS ‘Hybrid-Electric Buildings’ Project makes use of a large network of batteries integrated in specific buildings where the electric utility requires grid support. The additional energy produced will aim to off-set and eventually replace the energy currently being produced by conventional gas-fired plants, as well as the recently decommissioned San Onofre nuclear plant. The project will mark the first time SCE taps into energy stored by their own customers to provide grid support during peak hours.

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If 2014 was a mostly behind-the-scenes series of Eureka moments and 2015 was the year energy storage started to go mainstream, where does it go from here?

The obvious answer is out of the factories and into grids, micro-grids, businesses and houses the world over. It will happen at a different pace in different regions, and each market will have its own drivers – and barriers – to adoption. Here are seven distinctive takes on what the industry is predicting – and hoping for – in 2016 and beyond.

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