Construction has begun on a 260 MW/1 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in the state of Georgia. Burns & McDonnell has been contracted to build the battery which is scheduled for completion in 2027.

Approved DTE Electric storage facilities include one asset backed by a 20-year tolling agreement, two self-build contracts and three batteries to serve an Oracle-owned data center. The energy regulator has denied a petition from the state’s attorney general to revisit BESS approvals.

SolarEdge has outlined a transition pathway to integrated 800 V (DC) infrastructure for data centers, arguing that legacy alternating current (AC) systems introduce inefficiencies that could constrain the growth of AI workloads. It says rising compute demand and next-gen NVIDIA GPUs are increasing urgency, while data centers lose an estimated 10% to 30% of input power through multiple conversion stages.

SOSV-backed Qnetic is aiming to raise $20 million in 2026. Over the next two years it will work with the National Lab of the Rockies and other partners on field testing and validating its technology across multiple use cases.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are already regularly deployed in uninterruptible power supply (UPS) applications for data centers, but current market conditions are now driving new deployment needs and strategies. Blathnaid O’Dea hears from industry insiders about increasingly popular approaches like bring your own capacity (BYOC) and flexible grid connections (FGC), and why batteries can provide services beyond speed to power that gas turbines can’t.

Octopus Energy will acquire a solar and storage project in California that is expected to be operational by July as part of its investment. The UK-based company, active across major markets in Europe, Australia, China and the United States, says California’s clean technology sector will “bring innovation, growth and returns to the UK.”

NextVolt has offloaded a 1 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to Exus Renewables which will take on ownership long-term. Menawhile, the developers of a 1.2 GWh BESS in Arizona have partnered with Fluence for its GridStack Pro system.

Texas and California lead the latest energy storage surge with SolarMax and Spearmint advancing major projects, a Texas developer securing 10 GWh for data centers, and Ormat and Terra-gen commissioning 655 MWh of new capacity.

Construction is underway on two projects with a cumulative capacity of 400 MWh in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, Hawaiian Electric has broken ground on a 160 MWh project – the island’s first of its kind.

GridStor, Sunrun, and NRG Energy are hoping their efforts in the Texas battery energy storage (BESS) market will provide flexibility for the strained Texas ERCOT grid by catering to energy demand.