Booming energy storage market to double six times before 2030
by Cleantech Canada Staff
Global investments in new energy storage capacity to tally US$103 billion between 2016 and 2030, a new BNEF report says
Lithium-ion battery storage racks at an energy storage project in California. PHOTO: AltaGas
NEW YORK—The energy storage industry is just getting started.
According to a new report from clean energy research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the market for battery, thermal, compressed air and other new and old forms of energy storage is expected to continue booming through the 2020s. The report forecasts the industry will have capacity to store 125 gigawatts/305 gigawatt-hours of energy by 2030—which translates to the market doubling six times between last year’s installed capacity and 2030.
“The industry has just begun,” said Yayoi Sekine, an analyst with BNEF and the lead author of the report. “With so much investment going into battery technology, falling costs and with significant addition of wind and solar capacity in all markets, energy storage will play a crucial part in the energy transformation.”
The research firm anticipates an US$103 billion investment in the industry between 2016 and 2030. It expects the investments to be spread relatively evenly across the world and allow for the wind, solar and other renewable energy sources to take on an increasing role in the global energy mix without destabilizing power grids.
The U.S. is expected to lead to world in new storage deployments, accounting for about one-quarter of the total. Meanwhile, new capacity in China, Japan, India, Germany, the U.K., Australia and South Korea will account for about 55 per cent of the global total.
