Automotive giant Nissan and power electronics and engineering group Eaton have installed an energy storage system at a data centre run by IT and cloud computing firm Webaxys’ in Normandy, France.

Data centres currently account for 1.5-2% of worldwide electricity consumption and this is growing fast. The nature of data centres means that they cannot afford to have power outages, which makes the use of intermittent renewable energy to power them a particular problem. However the new storage solution overcomes this issue by providing power on demand.

Click Here to Read Full Article

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a landmark resolution that requires a major utility to procure energy storage capacity as quickly as possible.

There has been a moratorium on gas injections at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility ever since Southern California Gas Company members of staff discovered a now infamous methane gas leak in October last year.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Tucson Electric Power (TEP), a utility in Southern Arizona with around 420,000 customers, has received approval to build two 10MW energy storage systems, including one co-located with solar, from the state’s regulator.

Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) approved the projects on Wednesday, for which TEP had issued a request for proposals (RfP) to lease last summer. TEP reached long-term agreements with E.On Climate & Renewables, an arm of the European utility which last year split off from its parent to work on clean, sustainable technologies and innovation, and NextEra Energy Resources, a wholesale electricity supplier and itself a subsidiary of a utility, US-headquartered NextEra Energy.  

Click Here to Read Full Article

SolarCity one of the biggest names in US residential solar, has announced a new set of services targeted at utility and grid operators including the official launch of its grid-scale solar-plus-storage offering.

The PV provider will be branching into installation, financing and consulting services for utility-scale solar as well as expanding its activities in energy storage development. In conjunction, SolarCity will be advancing controls for distributed energy resources (DERs), demand response and aggregated grid services, to form a full network of solar-related activities.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Global maker of construction and mining equipment Caterpillar has launched an integrated micro-grid solution which combines solar PV and energy storage with the company’s power generation equipment.

Cat Microgrid Technology is available in a range from 10kW to 100MW of modular solutions. It can be configured to include thin-film solar panels, Caterpillar generator sets and a selection of energy storage technologies, including ultracapacitors and lithium-ion batteries.

Click Here to Read Full Article

18:09 – …And with that, a lively day of robust discussion, enthusiasm and education draws to an end. It’s time to relax in the company of the EnergyStorage 100, as we move to the Twickenham Members Lounge for the networking event. I have to say perhaps its testament to the strength of the companies involved, both in the UK and abroad that even whittling it down to 100 top organisations was really tough!

Thanks for following our coverage and we look forward to reporting more on many of these topics soon.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Operators of transmission infrastructure and wholesale markets in the US have supplied their views on energy storage to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), with industry and other stakeholders expected to follow.

FERC launched a drive last month to seek input from Regional Transmission Organisations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) on the role energy storage could play in wholesale markets. This includes market design and the potential role of behind-the-meter,customer-sited solar-plus-storage where it could play into wholesale markets as well as providing distributed benefits such as back-up or peak shifting.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Texas-headquarted Mercom Capital Group recently released its Q1 2016 funding and M&A report for energy storage, smart grid and energy efficiency sectors. Mercom’s CEO and co-founder Raj Prabhu discussed the energy storage trends tracked in this quarter with Energy-Storage.News, especially in light of the drop in venture capital funding this quarter.

California’s Sunverge Energy secured most of the venture capital (VC) funding for its storage systems, taking about US$36 million out of the US$54 million that was raised over 10 deals. Sunverge is continuing its winning streak; having recently partnered with AGL, Australia’s biggest utility, which invested US$20 million in the company as part of its climate change initiative funding. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

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.

Click Here to Read Full Article

BYD, DNV GL, Tesla, Schneider Electric and SMA Solar are among the names confirmed to attend Solar Media’s Energy Storage 100, a networking event in London celebrating the nascent energy storage industry.

Energy Storage 100 is an evening reception to follow the close of the Energy Storage Summit which takes place on 28 April during the day at Twickenham, England’s national rugby stadium. Taking advantage of its illustrious location, ES100 will be held overlooking the stadium’s pitch.

Former professional rugby player, actor and noted after-dinner speaker Martin Bayfield will be the evening’s host. Keen Harry Potter fans may recognise Bayfield’s name – he was stunt double to the actor Robbie Coltrane who played Harry’s mentor, Hagrid, in the film adaptations of the books.

Click Here to Read Full Article