Overall,worldwide demand for grid storage applications is forecast to grow nearlynine-fold to $10.4bn in 2017 as technology developers tie-up with largecorporations in a "partner or perish" environment.

“A strongnetwork replete with complementary technologies, material supplies, and avenuesto customers can speed up a company’s progress and buffer it against someunpredictable market dynamics,” says Lux senior analyst Steve Minnihan.

“However,quantity is no indicator of quality in evaluating a developer’s partnershipnetwork, because not all partnerships are created equal."

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