Wednesday, 9 September 2026

Australia's Waratah Super Battery injected what RenewEconomy described as a massive and unprecedented amount of power into the grid across a two-hour period, in what the outlet said appears to be the first full test of the asset's shock-absorber capacity.

RenewEconomy describes the installation as the country's most powerful battery.

The shock-absorber role is the function being proven here: the battery is held in reserve to soak up a sudden network disturbance rather than to trade energy through the day. The two-hour discharge tested that capability at full extent, according to RenewEconomy.

B2U Storage Solutions has begun commercial operation of its Bexar Martinez battery energy storage system near San Antonio, Texas, delivering 28 MWh of grid services to ERCOT, according to the company's GlobeNewswire release.

The site is built entirely from repurposed electric vehicle batteries, housed in B2U's patented BESS cabinets, and is the second Texas project the company has developed on that basis.

B2U said the addition takes its total portfolio providing grid services to ERCOT in Texas above 50 MWh.

Across Texas and California, the company reported managing more than 5,000 repurposed EV batteries and operating roughly 100 MWh of storage in both solar-paired and stand-alone configurations.

B2U expects to deploy an additional 50-plus MWh in ERCOT over the next 6 months, according to the release.

Councillors in Bluewater, a municipality in Huron County, Ontario, voted 9-0 against the Bayfield and Stanley compressed air energy storage project on Aug. 13, according to ESS News.

The developers, Bedrock Energy and Capstone Infrastructure, had planned to bid the scheme into Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) Long Lead-Time (LLT) request for proposals, a procurement program for long-duration storage, at 382 MW/3,056 MWh, ESS News reported.

In their presentation to council, the two companies estimated a minimum of CAD 1.5 million a year in municipal revenue from property taxes and community benefit payments, adding up to roughly CAD 90.6 million across a proposed 40-year operating life.

The LLT RFP closes to proposals on Nov. 26 and is the only procurement window currently open for long-duration energy storage in the province, per ESS News.

Switzerland's largest battery storage facility to date has entered service at Gurtnellen, in the canton of Uri, according to pv magazine.

The site pairs two separately owned systems. Axpo operates the larger of the pair at 50 MW of power capacity, alongside an 8.4 MW system belonging to Energie Uri, pv magazine reported. Fluence supplied the battery systems for the project.

Axpo's pipeline extends well beyond the Swiss site. The company has further battery storage projects under construction in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania, with a combined power capacity of more than 300 MW, according to pv magazine.

Financial close has been reached on a 15 MW / 60 MWh battery energy storage system at Windpark Greenport Venlo in the Limburg region of the Netherlands, ESS News reported.

The retrofit carries an investment of nearly EUR 12 million, with ING financing a significant portion of that amount, according to ESS News.

The battery will share the wind farm's existing grid connection through a cable-pooling arrangement, operating alongside the nine-turbine, 39 MW Windpark Greenport Venlo.

Project developer Green Energy Storage expects the battery to be operational in the summer of 2027. Green Energy Storage handles development of the battery, including contracting battery supplier Alfen.

The owner, WGV-EOS, is a partnership between Greenchoice, ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund and Windunie, per ESS News.

Moment Energy's battery energy storage system (BESS) passed a third-party legal review of its foreign entity of concern (FEOC) exposure, according to Solar Builder. The review examined the company's corporate ownership, effective control and debt financing structure, and was carried out by what Solar Builder described as a Top 10 U.S. law firm.

The product is manufactured in North America, at sites in British Columbia and in Texas.

The review responds to tighter rules on FEOC and prohibited foreign entity (PFE) status. Solar Builder reported that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act tightened those requirements for companies seeking to qualify for federal Investment Tax Credits (ITC), and that non-compliance can expose projects to clawbacks during a 10-year recapture period.

The U.S. Treasury has issued interim guidance through Notice 2026-15 to help taxpayers work through the new rules, according to Solar Builder.

Moment Energy will host a webinar on Sept. 17 covering the Treasury guidance, supply chain considerations and practical steps for protecting ITC eligibility.