2015 was a dynamic year for energy storage. A proliferation of energy storage deployment, declining costs and Tesla’s Powerwall announcement contributed to a successful year. But the start of 2016 did not begin as auspiciously as the previous year’s headlines might suggest.

There were 18.3 MW (21.2 MWh) of energy storage deployed in the United States in the first quarter of 2016, representing 127% increase from first quarter of 2015, according to a recent energy storage report from GTM Research. But those numbers represent an 84% decline from storage deployments in fourth quarter 2015.

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The energy storage industry enjoyed a moment in the spotlight last week when theWhite House hosted a summit on that topic. Now this burgeoning sector will work to capitalize on this new exposure to get policies in place that allow storage markets to grow.

The core message energy storage companies are trying to send is that their products provide a value to the grid, but it’s a value that the markets currently aren’t designed to compensate. The rules were written before this technology came into its own, and now they’ll need to be amended for storage providers to recoup investments that yield tangible services to the grid. As electric generation shifts away from central, thermal plants to more distributed and variable renewable sources, the ability to flexibly store energy will play an ever more critical role. 

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A team of energy storage researchers based at Texas A&M University has identified a nanoscale bottleneck as the culprit behind low performance in lithium-ion batteries. The discovery could lead to the use of new, improved materials that enable a rechargeable battery to attain more of its maximum theoretical capacity and maintain it through more of its lifecycle.

Considering the widespread use of Li-ion energy storage tech, the discovery has significant implications for energy efficiency and energy conservation in the low-carbon economy of tomorrow.

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Clean energy and energy storage go together like peanut butter and jelly. But the falling cost of renewable energy threatens to break up this indispensable pair.

According to a new paper in Nature Climate Change, energy storage stands at a critical juncture. For now, energy storage can make wind and solar more profitable, but that may not always be the case.

“If storage isn’t adopted now and renewables’ costs continue to fall, then the added profitability of storage would go away, because at that point it would make more sense to build more solar or wind than it would to install storage,” the study’s co-author, MIT professor of energy studies Jessika Trancik, said in an interview.

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We’re getting some interesting news lately about the pace of cost reductions in the lithium ion battery industry and it could bode well for new industries forming today. According to energy storage company Stem’s Chief Technology Officer, battery prices have fallen a whopping 70% in the last 18 months. 

Battery prices are key to unlocking energy storage in homes, at large buildings, and at utilities that could shave peak energy costs and allow more renewable energy to hit the grid. And for electric vehicles, falling battery costs could make it attractive for millions more people to buy an EV.

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Energy Storage News – Piriyathep Kanchanadul flicks a switch to set a bank of light ablaze, fed by electrolyte that shoots round a tentacular array of tubes. He shuts the power off moments later — but the bulbs stay on.

Here, in the unlikely setting of a Bangkok high-rise located next to an industrial-scale massage parlour, scientists and their business backers are pressing to solve a riddle that has long held back the spread of renewable energy. Mr Piriyathep is managing director of Cellennium, a start-up hoping to roll out an affordable battery that can harvest solar, wind and wave energy and store it for later use.

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Leading investment bank Morgan Stanley believes the Australian energy market is seriously underestimating the grow of solar and battery storage, and says the technology will be installed at rates four times quicker than the incumbent energy industry expects.

In a new detailed report, Asia Insight: Solar and batteries, Morgan Stanley expects the market for battery storage to grow from about 2,000 Australian homes now to one million by 2020. But its “high case” suggests the take-up could be double that – up to 2 million homes by 2020.

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Energy Storage News – Delta-Montrose Electric Authority (DMEA) is not only responsible for keeping the lights on and the books in the black. As a member-owned rural electric cooperative in southwest Colorado, DMEA is also responsible for living up to the seven cooperative principles, including principle 7: concern for community. 

So when hundreds of Delta County residents were laid off in a series of coal-mine closures, DMEA staff and leadership were looking for ways to meet their fiduciary responsibilities while also staving off an economic downturn. One obvious source of economic development was local renewable power. Nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains on Colorado’s Western slope, Delta and Montrose counties are blessed with abundant sunshine and swift streams, rivers, and irrigation canals.

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Energy Storage News – The world’s cargo fleet is moving from fossil fuels to electrons. But powering them won’t be simple. With today’s technology, driving a semi-truck 500 miles (804 kilometers) would require a 23-ton lithium-ion battery, half the weight of the truck itself. Fuel cells would need a massive, $2 million hydrogen fuel tank to go the distance. Embedding wireless charging coils in roadbed would be expensive and inefficient.

But an invention first deployed in 1870 to power trains and streetcars might be the perfect fit: catenary, overhead electrical wires commonly found around the world. The German engineering company Siemens, presenting at an electric vehicle conference in Montreal this month, argues it can power unlimited-distance electric trucks with intermittent overhead wires that provide enough energy for fast-moving, long-haul highway journeys.

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