Energy Storage

Toshiba’s latest earnings results show catastrophic losses for the Japanese electronics conglomerate, which are forecast to hit US$6 billion for the FY 2015. Its recent accounting scandal has forced it into restructuring. More emphasis will be placed on its energy and storage businesses, despite these segments also suffering sales declines.

According to a new study by BNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, cumulative solar capacity in the U.S. has reached 28 GW, of which 7.3 GW was installed in 2015. Overall, last year saw 16 GW of renewables added, outstripping fossil fuels for a second year. Energy productivity is also growing, while prices remain stable. Investment, particularly in solar, is also on the rise.

The French energy giant leverages its $150 million Total Energy Ventures fund to secure stakes of no more than 15% in the two off-grid and microgrid startups.

Elon Musk has confirmed Tesla will bring out a new version of its Powerwall home energy storage battery system this summer. While “step changes” can be expected, he declined to elaborate on the new product.

Concurrent with the opening of the company’s new U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, battery storage integrator Sonnen has partnered with PetersenDean, SolarWorld and Spruce Finance.

Addition of storage to the solar landscape seen as key to overcoming intermittency limitations and supporting continued price reductions of PV, report finds. DG market could reach 25 GW by 2026.

Large-scale storage systems in the U.K. are already competitive under certain circumstances, while small-scale decentralized energy installations with storage on site can be competitive around 2017, according to a new KPMG report. British energy storage stakeholders are changing the frame of their policy arguments, demanding from the government fair regulations.

Austin Energy has emerged as the biggest winner under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) latest funding round, which has seen US$18 million awarded to six energy storage+solar projects. It will partner with the likes of Tesla, Samsung and SolarEdge to develop solar LCOEs of $0.14/kWh when combined with storage, for example.

The energy storage market is shifting from R&D demonstration projects to a commercially viable market, states IHS, Inc. Q4 2015 saw a 45% increase in the global project pipeline, while 900 MW of projects are expected to be installed this year.

Mercom Capital Group has released its figures for battery/storage funding in 2015. While investment in the venture capital, and debt and public market financing sectors both fell, merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions saw a significant increase.