Lithium-ion batteries have emerged as possibilities for grid-scale storage, notes David Martin of Innovation Observatory. Potential applications include:

·         Buffering renewables

·         Substation-level load balancing and peak shaving

·         Off-grid recharging of electric vehicle (EV) batteries

·         Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for critical applications such as servers or medical facilities

·         Portable, ancillary and back-up power supply

·         Distributed smart grid management