Project funding for energy storage jumped to US$820 million in 2016 from just US$30 million in 2015, while Sonnen was revealed as the energy storage company to raise the most VC funding this year.
US-based energy storage project developer and software company Demand Energy has been acquired by Italian utility company Enel.
Geothermal power and renewable energy developer Ormat Technologies has signalled its intent to join demand response and energy storage markets with the purchase of Viridity Energy.
German power company innogy SE – the renewables arm of utility RWE – has completed its purchase of Belectric Solar & Battery.
The merging of Tesla and SolarCity into a single entity creates a new company well-placed to deliver a full range of energy-related products and services to consumers, analysts have said.
Tesla-SolarCity could become an energy equivalent to an Uber or AirBnB, with a merger between the two creating “an integrated sustainable energy company, which does not own any centralised generation assets”, one expert has commented.
The participation of venture capital (VC) investors seems to have cooled, while project funding has conversely seen a sharp rise, in the latest quarterly report into funding and mergers and acquisitions from Mercom Capital.
An impending €950 million (US$1.07 billion) acquisition of battery manufacturer Saft will enable French oil major Total to “span the value chain” and exploit synergies with EV and solar markets, an energy market expert has said.
Oil and gas company Total has proposed to buy battery company Saft, which produces devices for the stationary storage industry as well as for transport and other applications.
Almost US$700 million of corporate funding went into energy storage in 2015, including US$397 million from venture capital (VC) investment, according to the latest report from Mercom Capital.
