Finnish telecoms firm Elisa will manage the charging activity of a 100MWh ‘Sand Battery’ project, optimising its activity in the country’s electricity reserve market.
A roundup of energy storage news from across the EU, involving Polar Night Energy’s ‘Sand Battery’ in Finland, GazelEnergie and Q Energy in France, and Spain’s MITECO awarding financial support to 45 projects.
A 100MW thermal solar and molten salt energy storage system in Xinjiang, China, is set to be completed and grid-connected by the end of the year, part of a project which has deployed conventional solar PV.
Saudi Arabian oil firm Aramco has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Rondo Energy, a thermal energy storage company, following an equity investment.
AES Andes has received environmental review approval for a 560MW project in Chile converting an existing coal plant to renewable energy and energy storage, using a molten salt-based technology.
Thermal energy storage companies Kyoto Group and Brenmiller have inaugurated and won funding approval for projects in Denmark and Israel, respectively.
Thermal energy storage company Rondo Energy has completed a US$60 million fundraising round from investors including Rio Tinto, Microsoft, Aramco and Energy Impact Partners.
A state agency in Estonia has provided €5.2 million (US$5.7 million) in grants for 10 energy storage projects, including a 4MW/8MWh battery storage project from utility Eesti Energia.
Rondo Energy, which counts Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures among its investors, intends to scale up annual production capacity of its thermal storage tech to 90GWh.
