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Grid-scale battery startup, Xtreme Power, has filed for bankruptcy after failing to raise sufficient capital through selling its manufacturing site.

The company, which makes advanced lead-acid batteries for large stationary projects, has been struggling to maintain its business for some time. In April 2013 the company put its Oklahoma factory on the market. It has not yet been sold and will form part of the bankruptcy arrangements.

Tesla Motors has teamed up with PV installer SolarCity to make a smart battery system for use with solar installations that will automate when energy is drawn from the PV system, the grid or the battery.

The system is called DemandLogic and allows businesses to reduce peak usage of electricity from the grid. The system would also provide backup power during blackouts and maintains grid stability.

The first shipments of lithium-ion batteries have left LG Chems’s battery plant in Holland, Michigan earlier this month after three years of setbacks and delays including a significant fine from the US Government.

Irish renewable energy firm, Gaelectric, has joined forces with Dresser-Rand, a US engineering group to implement compressed air energy storage (CAES) projects across Europe – starting in Northern Ireland.

The initial project will be the most advanced European CAES in Europe comprising 268MW twin power train storage and electricity generation facility that is due for commissioning in 2017. The project is expected to require £300m (US$477m) investment.

Dresser-Rand will project manage as well as overseeing scheduling and technical support services to include front end engineering and design in 2014 at the Larne, County Antrim site.

The compressed air system stores energy in the form of compressed air in caverns created within geological salt layers located typically at depths of between 450m and 850m beneath the Earth’s surface.

Energy is stored by compressing air during periods of low energy demand utilising compressor technology located at ground level. This stored energy is then available for use in subsequent periods of higher energy demand when it can be released and applied in generating power using significantly lower amounts of natural gas to generate peak time electricity.