As a climate scientist, reducing carbon emissions is at the heart of Dr Jill Cainey’s working life, but is it at the heart of UK Government policy?
Over two weeks at the beginning of December, unseasonal rains brought Chennai to a standstill. Rahul Walawalkar argues that energy storage-backed mircrogrids are an investment that would add resiliency of supply to extreme weather-affected areas as well as improving overall access to electricity.
In light of the Paris COP21 climate conference, New York City announced plans to incorporate 2,000 electric vehicles (EVs) into its municipal fleet by 2025. New York City claims this move will make it the largest EV fleet operator in the world. Analyst Dean Frankel of Lux Research takes a dive beyond the headlines.
A document setting out new policy directions on solar support says the UK government has recognised the potential of energy storage but has decided the feed-in tariff would not be an appropriate mechanism to incentivise uptake.
News in brief: UK pro-solar Conservative politician Gregory Barker and film star Leonardo DiCaprio have joined the advisory board of Powerhive; Ireland’s government has become the latest to recognise the potential of energy storage in its national low carbon transition; and flow battery maker has supplied systems to projects in Europe that demonstrate the technology’s strengths in integrating PV generation.
The UK’s Renewable Energy Association has slammed the results of an auction held to ensure the country has enough available capacity to avoid blackouts, with 153MW of energy storage bidding unsuccessfully in the tender.
It seems increasingly likely FiTs for solar and other government support mechanisms will be heavily cut in the UK, with job losses already taking place and more seeming inevitable. At first storage seemed like a simple solution for installers and the wider industry to shift its focus – even if only temporarily. UK renewable energy recruitment specialist David Hunt of Hyperion Executive Search, himself a former solar installer, takes a closer look.
A new report from Australia identifying gaps in safety practices for energy storage technologies has recommended that improving knowledge of safety hazards and renovating standards is essential to the storage industry’s integrity and future growth.
The eligibility of energy storage systems for a programme financing energy efficiency and renewables through property tax assessment shows that the technology is maturing rapidly, according to the CEO of the North American arm of Sonnenbatterie.
A trade association representing some of Germany’s energy storage industry has welcomed the renewal of a support scheme for batteries, but says that establishing “fair market conditions” for storage would be more important.
