Andy Colthorpe

The financial services arm of engineering giant Siemens will be offering no-money-down options for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers in the UK to purchase energy storage systems.

A code of practice for installing and selling electrical energy storage systems for the UK consumer market could help fill a “vacuum” of clear guidance for installers and their customers, Sonnen’s UK chief has said.

Energy storage provider and system integrator Younicos has been bought out by Aggreko, a power generation equipment and energy controls supplier.

While Brexit looms, bringing uncertainty into the country’s economy and international relationships, the role energy storage will play in a decentralised, low(er) carbon and more flexible energy system at least seems a little more assured than it did before.

Developers of commercial solar PV hoping to add batteries to their offerings could find the expertise required a significant barrier to entry, the head of a solar installation and power engineering company has said.

A field trial to deploy 50 grid-connected energy storage systems is going ahead in Scotland between UK energy storage firm Moixa Technology, vertically integrated energy company Scottish Power and energy efficiency advisory group BillSaveUK.

Solar developers seeking to enter the growing storage market have been advised that financing energy storage projects is a lot more complex than simply “transposing” learnings from solar to batteries.

After years of impressive cost reduction and technological advances, extinguishing the scepticism of many more doubters than you might sometimes believe, Germany’s concept of ‘Energiewende’ (‘energy transition’) now faces its hardest task in scaling up – making it a global concept. Several of the speakers at last week’s Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue conference talked about the successes of the Energiewende and what the energy transition could teach the rest of the planet.

Manufacturers and distributors are offering many different forms of training in energy storage installation for residential and small commercial level all over the country. Just taking a quick look at what’s available, names as diverse and well known as inverter makers SMA and Solax, domestic storage manufacturer and energy management specialist Wattstor, distributors like Krannich, Waxman and Wind & Sun have all been offering or will offer dedicated training events in battery storage installation this year.

The UK looks set for the arrival of energy storage in a big way this year. While high profile entrants such as Tesla are generating headlines, several energy storage systems have been deployed already on a commercial basis using a novel storage technology – the saltwater battery.