Project financing for six large-scale energy storage systems in Germany has been helped along by due diligence provided by testing, certification and knowledge services group TÜV SÜD.

A ‘hybrid’ plant for storing wind energy in batteries has been constructed by infrastructure and energy firm Acciona in Spain, thought to be the first such project in the country.

Finnish power equipment firm Wärtsilä has immediately followed up its launch of hybrid and standalone energy storage systems with the acquisition of system integrator and software specialist Greensmith Energy Management Systems (Greensmith).

Software platforms are emerging as a crucial element in the rapidly expanding energy storage industry. Alex Eller of Navigant Research explains the crucial role software plays in underpinning the value of energy storage systems.

US-based energy storage project developer and software company Demand Energy has been acquired by Italian utility company Enel.

Software for energy storage systems will be a mixture of in-house solutions by integrator/ developers and third-party providers, in an industry segment set for a steep rise in value, according to one expert.

Involvement from billionaire Peter Thiel in Stem’s Series C indicates a shared belief among investors that “distributed, intelligent storage is going to absolutely revolutionise the electric grid over the coming decades”, the company’s marketing director has said.

Germany-based utility E.ON has invested in US energy storage software, systems and service company Greensmith, bringing the storage specialist’s Series C round of growth financing to US$18.3 million.

Sharp Electronics will add software modelling the performance of energy storage systems to its commercial storage offering, with software an area industry figures and experts have highlighted as one of the most critical areas of competition and progress in the sector.

The importance of technologies and services that enable effective energy storage including software and systems integration, is set to grow more than 30 times over in the next nine years, a new report claims.