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That forecasted growth of 186 percent to 1,233 megawatt-hours of
storage from 431 MWh compares with the 27 percent increase in
2017, according to a report by GTM Research and the Energy
Storage Association trade group published on Tuesday.
That's in part because some large projects that had been
expected for 2017 were pushed into the early months of 2018, but
also because the market for batteries in homes and businesses is
finally taking off, according to GTM analyst Ravi Manghani, who
said that part of the market logged growth of 79 percent last
year.
The growth in the use of batteries for electricity storage has
been a boon to manufacturers such as Tesla Inc <TSLA.O>, LG Corp
<003550.KS> and others.
Storage system costs have fallen by roughly two thirds in the
last five years, Manghani said. In addition, more states are
mandating utilities procure storage systems.
The market for energy storage is still small, generating just
$300 million in value last year, the report said. But batteries
have long held the promise of solving the intermittent nature of
renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, so their
development is closely watched by investors, regulators and
power companies. The market is expected to exceed $1 billion in
2019, the report said.
Pairing big batteries with renewable energy projects improves
reliability without creating climate-changing emissions, and
more homeowners and businesses are looking to batteries for
backup power and to capture the excess energy from rooftop
systems to use when the sun is not shining.
Large systems for utilities are still the biggest segment of the
market, and more utilities are including storage in their
solicitations for solar projects, Manghani said, adding that a
year from now he would expect most solar project solicitations
to include a storage component.
"There is a big sort of shift in mindset," he said.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Susan Thomas)
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