The UK can deliver a “vibrant and healthy” energy storage industry that can create one of the world’s most efficient grids, but only if the approaching General Election doesn’t “rip up” progress to date. That was the view of a roundtable of members from the Renewable Energy Association (REA), Nissan and US battery developers Eaton, who met at the UK launch of the xStorage home battery unit to discuss how the UK can foster the technology. Eaton and Nissan’s xStorage residential battery unit will begin selling in the summer, and Eaton views the UK as the ideal location to facilitate demand for battery storage. The US firm has 4,300 UK employees across 30 sites and has worked with Nissan since 2012 to establish a commercially viable energy storage system. Speaking at the launch, Nissan’s managing director of energy services Francisco Carranza claimed that the UK Government was supportive of energy storage as a concept, but that regulatory frameworks needed to be put in place to balance the economics.
Edie 5th May 2017 read more »