Australia is set to conduct the largest trial of combined solar and energy storage in a suburb known as Salisbury. The company behind the endeavor is an energy company known as SA Power Networks . They will be supplying Tesla PowerWall or Samsung batteries for the lucky few who will get to see what the future of sustainable energy during peak hours without the grid's help looks like. The trial will see 100 houses get battery storage systems. SA Power Networks says that the customers can be expecting savings of USD$500 per year.
SA Power Networks is banking on energy power storage in Australia in a big way. They have made an easy-to-understand animation to explain the benefits of energy storage. It's quite convincing:
New Zealand is also seeing an upsurge of battery storage systems. Voxy confirms that Alpine Energy has been working with Infratec Ltd to bring the first grid-connected commercial energy storage systems to assist with clean energy production in the country. They will also be trialing the technology to test its viability as an answer to renewable energy.
Alpine Energy's General Manager Sara Carter said: "We have engaged in the BESS project in order to embrace the possibilities that future technologies can bring to the delivery of our core business and the sustainability of our community...With battery storage technology decreasing in price faster than originally predicted, the future uptake of the technology is likely to be significant. The trial will therefore also create an increased understanding of how customer deployed battery storage might impact on an electricity network in New Zealand."
In the United States, 18.3 megawatts of "grid-interactive" energy storage was installed in the first quarter of 2016. This was according to research conducted by Green Tech Media research and the Energy Storage Association. It is called the U.S. Energy Monitor study. Interestingly, less energy storage was deployed in the first quarter of 2016 than the entire 2015.
"The slow start to 2016 is not unusual, but also points to the shifting nature of U.S. energy storage market. After the rush to build and commission systems in PJM to meet the interim cap in the second half of 2015, this year is likely to see a move toward California as the leading market even for the utility-scale segment. This transition will undoubtedly be hastened by gas shortages in Southern California caused by the Aliso Canyon gas leakage and resulting energy storage procurement," said Ravi Mangani, GTM Research director of energy storage and the compiler of the U.S. Energy Monitor.
