Excessively large grid-related fees across much of Europe are stifling the wider deployment of energy storage. Indeed, critics argue that tariff structures in many European countries are failing to comply with the EU-level rules on electricity market regulation, which state that tariffs should be “cost-reflective” and not discriminate against energy storage.
White & Case and CMS have been among the most active law firms in the energy storage sector in recent months, advising on deals in the UK, Australia, Belgium and Germany. Energy storage-related project finance, in particular, has been a lucrative source of work for law firms recently.
How can storage investors maximise the value of their assets? In an effort to address this issue, Washington DC-based energy storage services company Fluence – which is on course for annual revenues of around $1.1 billion in 2022 – entered into a strategic partnership with renewable energy software provider Pexapark earlier this year.
Reading-based Anesco, the solar and storage developer that claims to have been responsible for connecting the UK’s first utility-scale battery storage unit, is now turning its attention to expansion in Europe.
Currently, the storage market is dominated by lithium-ion batteries, but the expectation is that lithium supplies will become increasingly hard to access and consequently more expensive. So what other technologies could potentially step in to make up for a shortfall in batteries caused by a lack of available lithium?
Concerns about energy security, along with the “affordability” of solar energy, have led to more than $1 billion being invested in US solar-storage companies and projects in recent weeks.
Europe’s powerbrokers need to spend a little more time listening to Susan Taylor. Taylor is an energy storage analyst at the Brussels-based European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE). Research published by EASE concluded that storage deployment must hit 14GW annually to bring Europe’s 2030 climate goals within reach. Despite the warning, Taylor says there is no EU-wide storage strategy driven by targets.
Hitachi Energy’s size marks it out as one of the bigger players in the energy storage sector. Headquartered in Switzerland, Hitachi Energy employs around 38,000 people in 90 countries and receives orders valued at a total of approximately $10 billion per year. It’s latest play in the energy storage market takes the form of its updated ‘E-mesh’ product, launched in November last year.