Big Growth Projected for Energy Storage Technologies

GLEN ALLEN, VA--(Marketwire - Apr 28, 2011) - Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets has just issued a new report that says the solar power industry will use $953 million (USD) in energy storage systems in 2016, rising to $1.5 billion in 2018. The report, "Energy Storage Markets in the Solar Energy Industry," is the latest in NanoMarkets' ongoing coverage of energy storage and renewable energy markets. A related report, "Energy Storage Opportunities in the Wind Power Industry," was issued in Q4 of 2010.

From the report:

The demand for high energy density batteries is expected to surge to meet the needs of the growing number of utility-scale solar plants. Such plants are already being heavily promoted by large solar panel firms in anticipation of lowered PV subsidies for consumers. The growing trend towards grid-scale PV will also be fueled by anti-nuclear sentiments following the Japanese disasters. High energy density batteries for solar power storage are expected to reach revenues of $763 million by 2016.

In the wake of reduced feed-in tariffs for PV, large commercial users will want to better manage the energy they generate and sell back to utilities. NanoMarkets believes that energy storage will become a key part of this new management effort and his trend will help take sales of lead-acid and lead-carbon batteries for solar power storage to $465 million by 2016.

The efforts towards reengineering the humble lithium ion battery to do duty in the Smart Grid is already showing signs of paying off in early solar power storage projects. By 2016, sales of lithium ion and related batteries for solar power storage will be worth $274 million, making this the second largest segment of the solar storage market in value terms.

About the report:

This NanoMarkets report analyzes and quantifies the opportunities for firms seeking to understand the opportunities created by energy storage technologies in the solar power sector; both PV and CSP are covered. It provides an analysis of the market in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, China and India, with eight-year forecasts of energy storage sold into the solar sector for each of these countries/regions, as well as for the world as whole. These forecasts are broken out by major energy storage technologies in both volume (MWh) and value terms. The report also includes discussions of major solar-related storage projects around the world and the major firms to watch in the space.

About NanoMarkets:

NanoMarkets is a leading provider of market research and industry analysis of opportunities within advanced materials and emerging energy and electronics markets. The firm has published numerous reports related to smart grids, renewable energy and related energy storage market opportunities. Visit http://www.nanomarkets.net for a full listing of NanoMarkets' reports and other services.

Source:  NanoMarkets

Grid Energy Storage a $35B Market by 2020?

Coming on the heels of yesterday's announcement that California is moving closer to setting grid energy storage mandates for utilities in the state, today Pike Research released a new report that says the grid energy storage market could reach as much as $35 billion by 2020.

According to the research company, demand is being driven by several key trends including the proliferation of renewable energy from variable sources such as wind and solar, the expansion of utility smart grid initiatives, and the introduction of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.  The new report, “Energy Storage on the Grid,” indicates that the market will increase from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $35.3 billion annually by 2020.

Pike Research analyst David Link said that today utilities use grid energy storage to mitigate wind and solar energy variability, for load following and for renewable energy time shifting. “In the coming years,” said Link, “the number of applications for energy storage on the grid will expand to include the opportunity for utilities to defer transmission and distribution (T&D) capital upgrades, time of use energy cost management for the commercial and industrial (C&I) segments, and conventional energy time shifting.”

Of storage technologies Pike research sees major growth in the areas of the compressed air energy storage (CAES), Li-ion batteries, and flow batteries.  Other storage technologies in use today include pumped hydro and sodium sulfur (NAS) batteries.

Source:   Renewable Energy World