An ‘electricity trading’ scheme to be launched by Reposit Power in Australia for residential energy storage system owners has been described by an analyst as “one of the most interesting examples” of software as a differentiator in the energy storage marketplace.

Energy storage and microgrid software specialist Geli Energy and storage system maker Imergy Power Systems will collaborate on a California Energy Commission-funded microgrid project which could save a college district US$75,000 a year in energy bills.

EOS Energy Storage has placed an order totalling more than 1MW from NASDAQ-listed power converter specialist Ideal Power, while both companies have launched new products since the start of the year.

Another large-scale project to test the grid-stabilising capabilities of battery-based energy storage systems will be launched at a solar farm in England, led by the National Grid, which is responsible for the UK’s electrical transmission network infrastructure.

Two providers of large-scale battery systems for energy storage have announced expansion plans this month, with Vizn Energy opening new headquarters in Texas, and Younicos forming three separate new business units to address “rapid growth” in the market.

The head of a company selected by the UK government to deploy residential energy storage under a pilot scheme believes that his network of installers could deploy 10,000 units, equivalent to 30MWh of storage per month.

The UK’s minister for energy has said that her government is not planning any framework of incentives for energy storage, but said nonetheless that public funds can help “bridge the gap” between ideas and commercialisation.

Mining giant Glencore has taken delivery of a lithium-ion energy storage system at a nickel mining complex in Canada, to be used to lower diesel costs and integrate power from wind turbines.

This year will be the one when “PV energy storage systems (PVESS) make an enormous leap toward wide-scale adoption”, according to research firm IHS.

Bosch, BMW and Swedish state-owned power company Vattenfall have begun the latest attempt to harness the potential of batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) to provide stability to electrical grid infrastructure.