After the expansion of the biggest battery project in world, milestones have been recorded for three more major solar-plus-storage and standalone battery storage projects in California, Hawaii and Florida.

This edition of news in brief from around the world in energy storage focuses on small-scale but potentially significant deployments. 

Energy Vault has become the latest startup with a novel, non-lithium battery energy storage technology to attract significant investment, raising US$100 million through a Series C funding round. 

Alternative asset management group Apollo Global Management has secured a US$150 million investment into US energy storage technology provider and system integrator FlexGen Power Systems.

Investors in large-scale battery projects are recognising the power of software, argues Steve Hanawalt of Power Factors.

Form Energy has closed its Series D financing round, with investors including steel company ArcelorMittal putting US$240 million into the Boston-headquartered iron-air battery startup. 

Kokam will supply a battery energy storage system (BESS) that will serve as a virtual synchronous generator, reducing local reliance on diesel generators on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) can play a big role in facing up to the climate crisis, argues Simon Daniel, CEO and co-founder of Moixa Technology

Augmentation at the Vistra Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California has been completed, with the world’s biggest battery energy storage system (BESS) now at 400MW / 1,600MWh. 

Batteries will be mounted on electricity poles across the low voltage distribution network and aggregated as a virtual power plant (VPP), in a project which will trial their ability to integrate more renewable energy in two regions of Victoria, Australia.