5 trends in energy storage systems

This is the eve of the revolution of the battery. Although, the market in Europe is still small: a single network operator is experimenting, but the number of electric vehicles is growing fast.

But there is more. We noticed a lot of developments, particularly with the lithium-ion battery. These are the 5 trends in energy storage we want to share with you.

1. Rapid growth of the market

• In recent years, Germany installed more than 10,000 systems. Particularly for households who wish to use their own solar power
• In the USA, Tesla launched its Power Wall: a 7 kWh battery, which has delivered 100,000 orders in a short period of time
• Worldwide there are already more than a million electric cars, and this market is growing fast. In Europe the marked has been growing with 49% in 2015

2. Strong decline in prices, but not enough

The prices of batteries became significantly cheaper.

• Tesla hopes to achieve more cost reductions with its new “Giga Factory’. CEO Elon Musk made a statement “I would be disappointed if it overtook us 10 years to get up to a $ 100 / kWh pack.” Comparison:, the costs are still above the $ 300 / kWh
• A storage system for European households would cost only a few hundred Euros (without a transducer). But with the current net arrangements, customers who want to be self supporting, are buying their own battery. For entrepreneurs, the business case depends on the costs of power outages.

3. Growing focus on services

In California, massive battery systems have been installed, especially for companies and industries. Mainly because the reliability of the grid and the costs during peak hours are very different from Europe. But in Europe, there is an increasing focus on batteries as well:

Before, batteries were only used for emergency power. Nowadays, we see a wider range of services, including:

• reducing the peak consumption
• reduce consumption during expensive hours
• improving of the power quality
• increasing the self-consumption via solar panels
• The trend is an integrated system where energy, telecom and IT will converge

4. Trending: Aggregators

To promote the flexibility of batteries, new parties are needed. A new player is the aggregator, an entrepreneur that will converge power storage in batteries, charging stations, electric cars, Power to Heat and flexible usage and sells this as a package deal. This could be an energy company, but also car leasing companies. We have recognized the first aggregators: They are pooling assets especially from greenhouses and trade the energy the balancing markets.

5. Material Improvement

New materials will increase in energy density and ensure a significant increase in longevity. Also, the prospects of lithium are good: the world reserves are sufficient for one million electric cars (20 kWh battery).

And after that?

Already, there are batteries developed on the abundantly available sodium (Na)

And there are beautiful improvements of the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery and the sea salt battery

Related

• In 5 years, cheap batteries as backup for smart grids
• Compressed Air Storage System to feed Toronto Hydro‘s power grid
• Dutch Hybrid introduces alternative for the Tesla PowerWall
• 5 questions about the Tesla PowerWall
• New: factory sea salt batteries in the Netherlands
• Elestor introduces cheap hydrogen bromide flow battery

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