German engineering giant Siemens has furthered its involvement in the stationary energy storage industry, becoming the latest ‘big player’ to launch a range of home battery energy storage systems.

The company already provides its Siestorage brand of containerised energy storage and since just over a year ago has been a partner in Fluence, providing energy storage technology and services as a joint venture with AES Corporation.

Last week the company unveiled Junelight Smart Battery, lithium-ion battery-based energy storage systems for private households, aimed primarily at maximising the use and integration of onsite-generated solar energy, dubbed ‘self-consumption’ in many markets.

The battery has been launched initially in Germany, with a launch imminent in Austria in April. Siemens said the battery system’s predictive charging and discharging procedures are coordinated in line with forecasted weather patterns and expected energy demand.

Real-time monitoring is available through a mobile app and the system can be configured up to 19.8kWh capacity if six modular units of 3.3kWh are combined. As feed-in tariffs for solar sold to the grid fall and electricity prices for consumers continue to rise, solar households are wanting to use more and more of their self-generated energy where possible, Siemens Low Voltage and Products division’s CEO Andreas Matthe.

Battery storage technology has moved in fits and starts, but today experts note that rapid advances make it difficult for safety standards to keep pace. Developers of storage systems are designing projects to enhance reliability and resiliency, and help integrate renewable resources into the grid, while ensuring rewards outweigh the risks.

Battery storage is considered a complex technology, but its implications for power generation are clear. As storage costs come down, it presents a challenge for utilities behind the meter, with small-scale installations in homes and businesses disrupting rate design and the traditional utility business model.

Larger-scale installations, though, present opportunities for power providers, as storage becomes available for on-grid applications. Utilities are moving to procure storage assets to address long-term regulatory requirements and more short-term needs, such as enhancing reliability or substituting for other generation construction projects.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Argonne National Lab in a 2016 study wrote, “Electrical energy storage could play an important role in decarbonizing the electricity sector by offering a new, carbon-free source of operational flexibility, improving the utilization of generation assets, and facilitating the integration of variable renewable energy sources.” The researchers wrote that storage installations could replace gas-fired peaker plants, immediately supplying power during periods of high demand for electricity. The key was bringing down the cost of batteries while increasing their energy density and lifecycle.

That’s the task for battery manufacturers, as they work to create products that can store more energy, operate longer between charging cycles, and do it with less risk, as technology advancements are moving faster than safety codes can keep up.

Energy Department researchers see enough promise in the battery in your flashlight, and the one under the hood of that rusting junker in your front yard, that they’ve put them on the list of cheaper, safer, more reliable successors to lithium-ion.

“The new focus areas bring in zinc manganese-dioxide, which has been around for a while as a primary battery, but we are talking about a rechargeable version,” said Imre Gyuk, director of energy-storage research in DOE’s Office of Electricity.

The new version will be a relative of the alkaline batteries that have been around for decades and, said Gyuk, “hopefully one that uses both available electrons, and we may go as low as $50 per kilowatt hour.”

Compare that to the $100 anticipated cost of lithium-ion batteries, which have such known deficiencies as a tendency to catch fire, to die in cold weather, and to degrade rapidly with time and use.

“Lithium ion batteries currently are at a level of $100 per kilowatt hour. This is talking about cells only, and I suspect once we consider the importance of recycling and the various ecological issues, these prices may go up slightly.”

DOE is also working on an advanced version of the lead-acid batteries used in cars before the advent of lithium-ion, which could cost as little as $35/kwh, Guyk said Thursday in a presentation to the Clean Energy States Alliance. In the past, lead-acid’s low price has depended on dubious recycling practices overseas.