Distributed Storage

Video interview: On the second day of the Energy Storage Europe conference and trade show Hans Werner Reinhard, representative of organizer Messe Düsseldorf, gave his view on the future of the event and the energy storage market.

Gigawatts a-go-go this week as Turkey, Algeria and Vietnam all toy with those magical GWs, while in more mature markets German storage figures provided reasons for optimism and Blattner Energy took the top spot for U.S. EPCs.

It took a couple of tweets, and at least one one-hour long phone call, but it seems pretty clear that Tesla founder, CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has helped turn the debate around energy policy in Australia on its head.

Distributed storage costs: With the average payback cost of a home battery storage system sticking stubbornly at around ten years, skeptics remain unconvinced that mass-market adoption of distributed storage is on the cards any time soon. So what measures is the industry taking to expedite cost reductions, improve storage technology, and shift the conversation from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’?

The British archipelago of islands to become global testbed for Smart Islands project that aims to provide model for use of electric vehicles and home batteries in a smart energy system.

Amid the innovation on display in Portugal, the optimism in Japan and the, well, eagerness in Norway were stories of takeovers, Tesla and storage that shaped yet another fascinating week in the global solar PV industry.

An Ecobuild panel debate about the U.K.’s future energy mix proved to be heavily in favor of nuclear power and against the use of domestic solar PV with batterie, prompting cries of derision from audience.

There is a lot of talk and action regarding energy storage in Europe and the sector is actively discussing which national market will emerge most strongly. A seldom discussed but very strong case can be made for Ireland.