The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a loan deal for its first wind energy-plus-battery storage project in Thailand, which is also the country’s first private sector initiative to combine the two technologies at scale.

With a quarter of all solar project proposals in the US including batteries, transmission grid operators across the country are taking a variety of steps to evaluate the role that can be played in wholesale electricity markets by hybrid power plants – defined as generation coupled with energy storage.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), is planning to host a technical conference on ‘hybrid resources’ – energy storage paired with generation – in July this year.

Realising the theoretical promise of solar-wind-storage hybrids is far from straightforward, with individual projects likely to vary considerably. Ben Willis examines some of the technical complexities of combining different technologies into a single, profitable entity.

Technology provider Sinexcel has announced the successful commissioning of a 72MWh pair of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery energy storage projects in Illinois and West Virginia in the US, to deliver frequency regulation services to the PJM Interconnection service area.

With industry heavyweights eyeing up developments of solar-wind-storage projects, Liam Stoker uncovers what’s really driving hybrid power plants, and the regulatory and financing hurdles that must be surpassed to deliver them.

Wärtsilä Corporation has announced 126MWh of energy storage across two project deals in the past week in two far-apart regions of the world.

Utility ScottishPower has unveiled a new hybrid power strategy for the UK and Ireland, combining solar and battery storage with wind on both existing and new sites.

A wind farm with co-located battery storage, in development by UK-headquartered multinational renewables developer and EPC provider RES Group, is to go ahead in Australia.

Australian renewables investor Lyon Group has penned an agreement with China Huadian Corporation which will see the duo co-develop and invest in power-plus-battery energy storage systems across Australia, China and other Asian markets.