Without doubt, energy storage has a great role to play in facilitating the integration of renewable energy; and with the rising tide of renewables, the complementary deployment of energy storage is a trend set to continue into 2017 and beyond.
However, experts say that hastening deployment calls for fundamental changes to how markets treat energy storage.
To quote the European Commission VP in charge of the Energy Union, Maroš ŠefČoviČ: “The role and importance of storage have been underestimated for too long.”
Alex Eller, research analyst at Navigant Research said: “We’re only seeing the very beginnings of what the energy storage market is going to look like. Important issues surrounding how energy storage participates in electricity markets [haven’t] even begun to take shape in most places.”
With “sufficient technologies and capabilities already here [and] only going to get cheaper and better,” Eller said that core challenges revolve around uncertainty over storage’s position within future electricity markets.
Matt Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association (ESA) takes a similar position.
“Storage technologies [have been] demonstrated to be safe, reliable, and cost-effective; and utilities can see clear advantages of energy storage,” he said, adding “now it’s about application of solutions. On that issue, we’re close to an inflection point — with everything required for major shift in energy systems through introduction of energy storage.”
Capacity Expansion in 2017
According to ESA, in terms of megawatt-hours, the U.S. market grew 284 percent in 2016 alone and deployment of energy storage systems through 2017 looks set for exponential growth again.
Navigant reports that 520 MW of new energy storage capacity was deployed globally in 2014 and 2015; bringing non-hydro energy storage to some 2,276 MW by year’s end.
“In 2017 we expect the global market to grow 47 percent from the already record breaking year in 2016 in terms of new storage capacity deployed,” said Eller.
Through 2020, Eller pointed out that Navigant forecasts over 29.4 GW of new storage capacity to be deployed worldwide across all sectors, and a compound annual growth rate of 60 percent.
Technology Expansion in 2017
For the near future, the dominant form of energy storage, pumped hydropower, is sure to remain the principal method of storing energy, occupying a global market share of over 95 percent. Aside from pumped hydro, a plethora of energy storage technologies exist with a growing number of new solutions being tried, tested and installed on a commercial basis. An even larger number reside anywhere between blueprint designs and various levels of research and development.
Going forward, battery storage — of the lithium-ion variety — is expected to retain its majority market share, according to Roberts.
“Global trends are feeding into that…partly because major applications of today lend themselves to batteries. Equally, lithium-ion dominates on account of cost; but it has reached that cost because of demand driving production.”
This favorable increasing-demand/decreasing-cost trend is not expected to slow down through 2017. Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects battery technology to fall to $120 per kWh by 2030 compared with more than $300 now and $1,000 in 2010.
Home -Featured News | By: William Steel
However, experts say that hastening deployment calls for fundamental changes to how markets treat energy storage.
To quote the European Commission VP in charge of the Energy Union, Maroš ŠefČoviČ: “The role and importance of storage have been underestimated for too long.”
Alex Eller, research analyst at Navigant Research said: “We’re only seeing the very beginnings of what the energy storage market is going to look like. Important issues surrounding how energy storage participates in electricity markets [haven’t] even begun to take shape in most places.”
With “sufficient technologies and capabilities already here [and] only going to get cheaper and better,” Eller said that core challenges revolve around uncertainty over storage’s position within future electricity markets.
Matt Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association (ESA) takes a similar position.
“Storage technologies [have been] demonstrated to be safe, reliable, and cost-effective; and utilities can see clear advantages of energy storage,” he said, adding “now it’s about application of solutions. On that issue, we’re close to an inflection point — with everything required for major shift in energy systems through introduction of energy storage.”
Capacity Expansion in 2017
According to ESA, in terms of megawatt-hours, the U.S. market grew 284 percent in 2016 alone and deployment of energy storage systems through 2017 looks set for exponential growth again.
Navigant reports that 520 MW of new energy storage capacity was deployed globally in 2014 and 2015; bringing non-hydro energy storage to some 2,276 MW by year’s end.
“In 2017 we expect the global market to grow 47 percent from the already record breaking year in 2016 in terms of new storage capacity deployed,” said Eller.
Through 2020, Eller pointed out that Navigant forecasts over 29.4 GW of new storage capacity to be deployed worldwide across all sectors, and a compound annual growth rate of 60 percent.
Technology Expansion in 2017
For the near future, the dominant form of energy storage, pumped hydropower, is sure to remain the principal method of storing energy, occupying a global market share of over 95 percent. Aside from pumped hydro, a plethora of energy storage technologies exist with a growing number of new solutions being tried, tested and installed on a commercial basis. An even larger number reside anywhere between blueprint designs and various levels of research and development.
Going forward, battery storage — of the lithium-ion variety — is expected to retain its majority market share, according to Roberts.
“Global trends are feeding into that…partly because major applications of today lend themselves to batteries. Equally, lithium-ion dominates on account of cost; but it has reached that cost because of demand driving production.”
This favorable increasing-demand/decreasing-cost trend is not expected to slow down through 2017. Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects battery technology to fall to $120 per kWh by 2030 compared with more than $300 now and $1,000 in 2010.
Home -Featured News | By: William Steel