PV Tech Storage interviews Paul Bundschuh of Ideal Power, whose company will supply Sharp’s new Smartstorage system with power converters and has also developed a three-port hybrid battery converter to better enable grid-resilience and micro grids.
Samsung SDI will supply its lithium-ion batteries to a Japanese company building a 1MW solar farm, with the deal expected to then go on to furnish an initial 20 solar farms with batteries.
The US arm of Japanese consumer electronics company Sharp has launched an energy storage product for businesses in California which can be installed either independently or in combination with a PV system.
One of the largest investor-owned utilities in the USA is looking to use a series of measures that are likely to include customer-side energy storage in order to stave off the need for US$1 billion worth of infrastructure investment.
The UK division of Chinese PV manufacturer ReneSola has sold forty domestic energy storage units to an installation company in Essex, England.
India looks to be the latest country to examine installing energy storage at the top level, with the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) actively seeking demonstration projects and the country’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) inviting comments from stakeholders ahead of similar plans.
An antenna tower in Australia serving a broadcaster will be the site of a solar-plus-storage project funded by the German government and designed to deliver power 24 hours a day.
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has inaugurated a test centre at its northern campus that will pair a 1MW solar array to 100kWh of lithium-ion battery-based energy storage.
SolarCity, one of the largest solar installers and leasing companies in the US, has moved into providing energy storage via pilot programmes for residential and commercial customers in key regional markets including California. Will Craven, director of public affairs and spokesman for SolarCity, discusses the regulatory situation facing the company and others in the rapidly growing area of energy storage-plus-solar.
AU Optronics (AUO) is to launch its residential and commercial energy storage system, Powerlegato, into the European, Japanese and Australian markets on the back of receiving the necessary certification.
