Energy storage megashift: 10 of the best battery projects across the globe

As 2016 draws to a close, edie.net reflects upon a year that saw energy storage evolve from a relatively abstract low-carbon concept into a crucial catalyst in the global transition to clean energy. The world will witness an international 'megashift' towards energy storage - batteries in particular - within the next 10 years. That was the prediction made by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) in the summer of 2015. A year later, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) went a step further, estimating that he annual investment in energy storage systems will increase six-fold to $8.2bn (£6.7bn) in 2024, and to $250bn (£197bn) by 2040. This massive growth in energy storage - first in the utilities sector, and then among corporations seeking to reduce overheads - will create a "fundamentally different" global power system, BNEF senior analyst Logan Goldie-Scot said at the time.If 2016 was anything to go by, the energy storage megashift is already beginning to gather pace. The battery market has seen breath-taking levels of growth from utilities over the past 12 months, while non-utilities are increasingly realising that lithium-ion or flow storage systems can act as the perfect accompaniment to on-site renewable energy installations. Here, edie has rounded up some of the biggest and best energy storage projects across the globe - most of which were installed or agreed in 2016 - which are together demonstrating the vast potential that this low-carbon innovation has to offer for the green economy.

read the list on edie.net