A team led by Dirk Witthaut at Forschungszentrum Jülich, working with the University of Cologne and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has identified the cause of a recurring 60-second dip in European power grid frequency first noticed by grid operator Tennet Germany. The researchers found the pattern stems from large-scale battery storage systems that check their state of charge every minute, a behavior they confirmed occurs globally, not just in Europe. The findings are published in Nature Energy.
fz-juelich.de
· 2026-10-31
The US battery storage market installed a record 20.2 gigawatt-hours in the second quarter of 2026, bringing first-half installations to 30.8 GWh, up 23% from a year earlier, according to a SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence report. Utility-scale projects drove most of the growth, led by Arizona's record 6.2 GWh quarter, with Texas and California also adding significant capacity.
electrek.co
· 2026-10-29
Firma Power is offering data center operators a way to source power from new wind, solar and battery storage projects rather than defaulting to gas plants. The startup's pitch comes as the U.S. is set to add a record 86 gigawatts of clean energy capacity this year, with many more low-cost projects awaiting connection to the grid.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-16
A new Wood Mackenzie report finds that four-hour battery storage systems cost less than open-cycle natural gas turbines in all 43 markets surveyed across every continent. The firm projects battery costs will keep falling while gas turbine electricity costs rise, partly due to AI data center developers buying up available turbines and driving procurement waits to two-to-four years, with closed-cycle models backlogged into the early 2030s. Separately, solar was found to be the cheapest new power source in every surveyed market, though tariffs and import restrictions are pressuring prices in North America.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-09
A new Wood Mackenzie levelized cost of electricity report finds four-hour battery storage beats open-cycle gas turbines on cost in every one of 43 markets analyzed worldwide. In the Middle East and Africa, storage costs are projected to drop a further 33% to $80/MWh by 2035, while China remains the cheapest storage market, over 55% below the rest of Asia Pacific. Separately, single-axis tracker solar is now the lowest-cost new-build power source in 43 of 48 markets studied, with onshore wind leading in the remaining five.
solarpowerworldonline.com
· 2026-10-08
Envision Energy, a Chinese renewable energy firm, has installed over 100 GW of wind power globally and is expanding into markets like Germany, Brazil, and Australia. Meanwhile, Chinese battery developers such as WeLion New Energy are making significant advances in solid-state battery technology, achieving high energy densities and working on semi-solid-state options. These developments highlight China's prominent role in advancing climate tech innovations.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-10-08
California avoided rolling power outages through the hottest August on record, a streak dating back to 2020. The state's grid operator has grown battery storage capacity from under 100 megawatts in 2020 to over 17,000 megawatts today, allowing solar energy captured during the day to be dispatched during peak evening demand.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-14
Furo, a startup building software for industrial battery storage systems, has raised $4 million from mostly U.S. investors including TQ Ventures, Neo, and Sheryl Sandberg's Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners. The three 28-year-old founders, originally from Germany, moved back home after studying and briefly operating in the Bay Area, and within a year landed enterprise clients like Deutsche Bahn. Co-founder Lena Sophia Voß says the company is scaling faster in Europe than it would have in the U.S.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-10
US energy storage set another quarterly record, powered largely by seven new gigascale battery installations exceeding one gigawatt-hour each, according to a report from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Behind-the-meter batteries also grew, with data centers accounting for roughly three-quarters of new commercial installations, even as residential battery installations are projected to fall 16% in 2026 after a supporting tax credit expired in 2025.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-09
After the April 2025 blackout across Spain and Portugal shut down its production lines and spoiled tonnes of meat, Spanish processor Fribin lost hundreds of thousands of euros in a single incident. The company has since bought two five-megawatt-hour battery storage modules, together worth about €1.5m, partly funded by EU Next Generation grants, to keep operations running during future outages.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-08-25
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