News in brief: Automotive battery maker Johnson Controls eyes Enersys, SolarCity announces 6MW solar-plus-storage for schools, executive of state-owned Swedish power company Vattenfall joins Younicos.
We are approaching the sixth annual Solar Energy UK conference and exhibition, hosted by our publisher Solar Media. Taking place next week amid challenging times for the UK PV industry, recognition of the potential of storage at the top level at last, and actions already underway by the industry, will be among the central topics of discussion, with more exhibitors and conference strands than ever before.
We’ve been talking over the past few months with a large number of key and emerging players in the UK’s energy storage industry. With our show Solar Energy UK coming up next week, we thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you the thoughts of two of those players on the relationship between renewables and energy storage.
The recognition by regulators of the need for an enlarged role for energy storage in the UK is a major milestone for the sector, trade associations in the country have said.
The UK, catapulted into being one of the world’s leading regions for solar PV deployment unexpectedly over the past couple of years, is now facing just as unexpected challenges in the form of drastic FiT cuts of as much as 87%. While this is undoubtedly bad for the industry, there are some possible avenues for policy adjustments that won’t require subsidising as well as strategies the industry could adopt to make self-consuming solar with storage a more viable option, writes Simon Daniel of Moixa Technology.
NextEra Energy’s CEO sees energy storage as one of three areas driving “tremendous growth” for the group and has said that discussions about renewables are “naturally” leading into dialogue on storage.
US utility Southern California Edison (SCE) has classified energy storage as an “eligible preferred resource” in a 100MW request for offers (RFO) it has issued to acquire renewable energy, capacity and load reduction from new sources.
Start-ups and established players in energy storage alike will compete for attention at this week’s Solar Power International, which opens today in Anaheim, California.
News in brief: Germany’s tiny renewable energy village gets biggest battery; Tesla-backers invest in Kazakh-bound Primus Power and industry partners match US$2 million grant for California distributed resources trial.
SimpliPhi Power will enter the residential and light-commercial storage market with its non-toxic lithium ferrous phosphate battery.
