Distributed Storage

The government of the Australian state has revealed plans to launch reverse auctions this year for as much as 400 MW of renewable energy capacity, in addition to 100 MW of energy storage systems, as part of a new A$1.16 billion ($873.2 million) investment.

Although the central European country has a solar market with a stable growth, the residential solar-plus-storage segment is still far behind its strong potential. In 2016, around 500 storage systems combined with PV installations were installed under the incentive scheme in the country.

Akon, the platinum-selling rapper, is lighting up Africa with solar lighting and other products thanks to a reported $1 billion credit line with Chinese manufacturers and a skill for celebrity networking.

This year’s Intersolar Europe exhibition and conference attracted encouraging crowds, plenty of innovation and a growing sense of confidence in solar’s importance to the world. With a little help from storage, of course.

The U.S. President’s anticipated decision to pull the country out of the COP21 Paris Agreement on climate change has been met with a healthy dose of bemusement and defiance at Intersolar Europe, where the universal opinion is that solar will find a way to thrive, in whatever political climate.

According to the German solar industry association (BSW-Solar) the prices for large and small PV storage systems have fallen by 50 respectively 40 percent. This growing market is dominated by Sonnen, Senec and LG Chem, as an analysis by EuPD Research shows.

Pu Neng claims it has now drawn more than $90 million in total investment in its vanadium redox flow battery technology, but the Beijing-based manufacturer did not disclose the terms of its deal with High Power Exploration (HPX).

The expansion of the Asian solar market in the first quarter of 2017 was broadly similar to the growth seen in the first quarter of last year, although most countries in the region have yet to reveal official installation statistics for the January-March period, the Asian Photovoltaic Industry Association (APVIA) said in a new report.

A 1.2 MW hybrid plant is currently under development in a remote area of Indonesia aiming to provide 24-hours access to electricity for about 400 households in three villages. The project will be owned by the local community, offering a model for the development of solar PV in the country.

The Japanese trading firm has started selling its new Smart Star L lithium-ion storage battery system for the Japanese residential PV market. It has designed the system in cooperation with Yokohama-based manufacturer NF Corp.