Weekly Debrief

National Audit Office says failure to implement £70bn modernisation would also hold back economic growth The ‘great grid upgrade’ is off track – ministers should spell out the risks for bills Consumers will pay higher energy bills unless the UK government speeds up work on a vast programme of upgrades to the electricity grid to enable the switch to renewables, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO) said that without faster action the extra costs associated with managing the ageing power network, which are ultimately passed on to the public, could reach £7.8bn a year by 2030. Continue reading...

National Audit Office calls for greater transparency on £70bn programme that is running over budget and behind schedule Speed up electricity grid upgrade or else face higher bills, warns UK watchdog It’s an open secret in the energy industry that “the great grid upgrade” – the £70bn programme to rewire the nation’s electricity transmission network to enable clean power by 2030 – is running over budget and behind schedule, and may end up costing consumers and businesses more in their bills than advertised. How far behind? How much more? It is impossible to get straight answers from the bodies overseeing the massive spending programme, which may continue at an even greater scale into the 2030s. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz), its in-house body, the National Energy System Operator (Neso), and Ofgem, the supposedly independent regulator, publish acres of information on narrow matters, but none provides a clear big-picture assessment: how is the grid upgrade really going? Continue reading...

As the battery storage industry matures through competition and scale, a significant push for efficiency is coming, writes Dr Kai-Philipp Kairies, CEO and co-founder of ACCURE Battery Intelligence.

This edition of news in brief brings you BESS news from the UK market featuring Field, Eelpower and EDF, as reported by our colleagues at Solar Power Portal.

Europe has some promising battery tech, but can it make up ground lost to Chinese battery giants?

The global battery energy storage market is entering a new phase, with shifting cell prices, intensifying competition and rapid international expansion reshaping the supplier landscape.

We look at the iron-air battery technology of startup Ore Energy, including how it works and technology developments it is pursuing after a recent US$43 million fundraise.

Project Development International (PDi), a specialist engineering and project delivery business serving the energy sector, announced the appointment of Mr.Oliver Kassam and Mr.Michael (Mike) Nithavrianakis, OBE MVO to its Board of Directors, as PDi positions to accelerate its growth ambitions across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and international markets. Oliver Kassam joins the Board following […]

Trade association Energy Storage Canada (ESC) has recommended establishing a Distributed Reliability Track for behind-the-meter (BTM) and distribution-connected energy storage in Ontario.

Second-life battery energy storage system (BESS) firms B2U, Moment and Rebaba are advancing project operations in Texas, US compliance, and new financing in Europe, respectively.

Greek renewables developer Metlen Energy & Metals has signed an agreement with utility Copec for the sale of the Tamarico II solar-plus-storage project in Chile’s Atacama region.

Blueleaf Energy and Universal Peak have closed financing for a 100MW/400MWh battery storage project, which was one of four winning bids in a Malaysian government tender.

Octopus Australia has referred the Blackstone battery energy storage system (BESS), a 500MW/2,000MWh standalone facility, to Australia's federal government for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

AI agents went on an uncontrolled hacking spree, leaving some in the industry worried

Akaysha Energy's Waratah Super Battery in Australia briefly reached its full rated output of 850MW on 7 September.