http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5390/?cid=3

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is hoping to spark interest in energy storage technologies with a £20 million fund for innovation.

Two energy storage competitions, one for large-scale energy storage demonstration projects and the other for research and feasibility studies into systems and components, will open shortly.

DECC want to heat from potential participants in the Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition now.

The competitions will open in a few weeks' time and the first projects should be able to get underway early next year.

S&C Electric Company, a member of the European Electrical Storage Network, which has been lobbying to get energy storage on the agenda, has welcomed the announcement.

"This will provide the much needed impetus to improve the efficiency of our electricity grid and help boost the integration of renewable energy sources," says Andrew Jones of S&C. "[It] will help contribute towards the government's overall understanding of its benefits and hopefully enable the market reforms required to facilitate its adoption."

The government also recently announced a new £13 million Energy Storage R&D Centre focusing on portable energy storage technologies for low-carbon vehicles.