The rise of renewable energy sources and the decarbonization of the grid will need new energy storage installations in the coming years to provide flexible energy and capacity. Alongside rising shares of solar and wind power in the electricity mix, the U.S. is set to see increased energy storage installation as storage is critical to ensuring more solar and wind power generation.

America has the potential to see 100 gigawatts (GW) of new energy storage deployed by 2030, the U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA) said in a new white paper this month.

That is an ambitious target, considering that in its previous estimate from 2017, ESA projected 35 GW of energy storage – including batteries, thermal, mechanical, and pumped storage hydro – installed by 2025.  

The ambitious 100-GW target of new energy storage is achievable if supportive policies and emerging policies removing barriers to market participation continue, the trade association says.

“Remarkable Growth Ahead”

“With the right policies and regulatory frameworks in place, we believe that achieving 100 GW of new storage installations by 2030 is entirely reasonable and attainable. Current market projections indicate remarkable growth for energy storage over the next decade, and its role is expanding to maintain and enhance the reliability, resilience, stability and affordability of electricity over the coming decade,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA.

All estimates point to the exponential growth of energy storage installations over the next decade.

The most recent U.S. Energy Storage Monitor from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the ESA shows that a total of 523 MW of energy storage was deployed in the United States. This year, the storage deployment is set to double to nearly 1.2 GW, despite the coronavirus crisis that has changed and challenged energy markets and company plans. In 2025, energy storage deployment is set to reach 7 GW, representing six-fold growth compared to the new storage installations in 2020.

Nevada and other states’ increasing reliance on and plans to adopt more and more renewable energy have a slight problem: The sun eventually has to go down.

The intermittent nature of solar energy and other renewable resources isn’t exactly a big secret; but it nonetheless has come under renewed scrutiny in other states, namely California, amid the “unprecedented” strain on the Western U.S. electric grid earlier this month caused calls for voluntary power cutbacks in Nevada and several other Western states.

NV Energy CEO Doug Cannon said in an interview two weeks ago that the call to reduce power consumption was not tied to a greater reliance on renewable energy; it was instead a capacity problem, with not enough generation to meet expected demand.

But there’s a positive sign; combined under-construction and pending storage projects will see NV Energy surpass a 100 megawatt energy storage goal seven years ahead of schedule.

Still, as the state continues to move toward a greater reliance on renewable energy — including a gradual ramp up to a 50 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2030 — renewable energy advocates say the state needs to take proactive steps now to avoid future resource adequacy issues — i.e. blackouts or brownouts.

“It’s a race, and if we don’t act now on starting all of these transmission projects that have been proposed, and we don’t continue to keep our foot on the gas when it comes to storage and renewable energy, we will fall behind,” Democratic Sen. Chris Brooks, an advocate for expanded renewable energy, said in an interview. “And we won’t be able to seize those opportunities and it will cost not only our state in lost opportunity, it will cost our state in more expensive power.”

If you were building an electrical grid from scratch (with no regard to regulations or finance), then long-duration energy storage would be a requisite. It just makes sense — store energy when it’s cheap and/or abundant, and discharge when the price is high, or the energy is needed by the grid. Use it to load-shift, peak-shift and smooth; to replace fossil-fuel-fired peaker plants; and to integrate intermittent renewable resources onto the grid.

Long-duration storage fits in with what utilities, independent system operators (ISOs), and regional transmission operators (RTOs) understand. “Most utilities seem to want much longer-duration storage systems, with 6 to 12 hours discharge, to do serious load-shaping over the day,” suggests an analyst at a U.S. energy think tank. Some of these expectations are being driven by the performance of pumped hydro, once the only source of grid-connected storage.

Surely, balancing a photovoltaic- and wind-heavy U.S. grid, while retiring fossil-fueled generators, is going to require long-duration energy storage to deliver power when it’s needed and to absorb curtailed power when it’s not.

Storage booming, lithium-ion dominates

The U.S. energy storage market was booming until the Covid-19 virus hit — and it continues to boom, despite, or because of the pandemic. The U.S. energy storage market is forecast to grow from 523 MW in 2019 to 7.3 GW in 2025, according to energy analyst Wood Mackenzie.

Residential solar installers such as Sunrun have revealed solar-plus-storage attachment rates of up to 15% nationwide and up to 60% in the San Francisco Bay area. Utility-scale developers such as 8minute Solar Energy are coupling energy storage with PV on most, if not all, of their large solar projects.

Today’s energy storage market is absolutely dominated by lithium-ion batteries, but a host of new energy storage technologies are being brought to market — offering longer durations and potential improvements in project economics and functionality.

If you were building an electrical grid from scratch (with no regard to regulations or finance), then long-duration energy storage would be a requisite. It just makes sense — store energy when it’s cheap and/or abundant, and discharge when the price is high, or the energy is needed by the grid. Use it to load-shift, peak-shift and smooth; to replace fossil-fuel-fired peaker plants; and to integrate intermittent renewable resources onto the grid.

Long-duration storage fits in with what utilities, independent system operators (ISOs), and regional transmission operators (RTOs) understand. “Most utilities seem to want much longer-duration storage systems, with 6 to 12 hours discharge, to do serious load-shaping over the day,” suggests an analyst at a U.S. energy think tank. Some of these expectations are being driven by the performance of pumped hydro, once the only source of grid-connected storage.

Surely, balancing a photovoltaic- and wind-heavy U.S. grid, while retiring fossil-fueled generators, is going to require long-duration energy storage to deliver power when it’s needed and to absorb curtailed power when it’s not.

Storage booming, lithium-ion dominates

The U.S. energy storage market was booming until the Covid-19 virus hit — and it continues to boom, despite, or because of the pandemic. The U.S. energy storage market is forecast to grow from 523 MW in 2019 to 7.3 GW in 2025, according to energy analyst Wood Mackenzie.

Residential solar installers such as Sunrun have revealed solar-plus-storage attachment rates of up to 15% nationwide and up to 60% in the San Francisco Bay area. Utility-scale developers such as 8minute Solar Energy are coupling energy storage with PV on most, if not all, of their large solar projects.

Today’s energy storage market is absolutely dominated by lithium-ion batteries, but a host of new energy storage technologies are being brought to market — offering longer durations and potential improvements in project economics and functionality.

The rise of renewable energy sources and the decarbonization of the grid will need new energy storage installations in the coming years to provide flexible energy and capacity. Alongside rising shares of solar and wind power in the electricity mix, the U.S. is set to see increased energy storage installation as storage is critical to ensuring more solar and wind power generation.

America has the potential to see 100 gigawatts (GW) of new energy storage deployed by 2030, the U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA) said in a new white paper this month.

That is an ambitious target, considering that in its previous estimate from 2017, ESA projected 35 GW of energy storage – including batteries, thermal, mechanical, and pumped storage hydro – installed by 2025.

The ambitious 100-GW target of new energy storage is achievable if supportive policies and emerging policies removing barriers to market participation continue, the trade association says.

“Remarkable Growth Ahead”

“With the right policies and regulatory frameworks in place, we believe that achieving 100 GW of new storage installations by 2030 is entirely reasonable and attainable. Current market projections indicate remarkable growth for energy storage over the next decade, and its role is expanding to maintain and enhance the reliability, resilience, stability and affordability of electricity over the coming decade,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA.

All estimates point to the exponential growth of energy storage installations over the next decade.

Related: Oil Major Equinor Stops Drilling In U.S. Shale Patch
The most recent U.S. Energy Storage Monitor from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the ESA shows that a total of 523 MW of energy storage was deployed in the United States. This year, the storage deployment is set to double to nearly 1.2 GW, despite the coronavirus crisis that has changed and challenged energy markets and company plans. In 2025, energy storage deployment is set to reach 7 GW, representing six-fold growth compared to the new storage installations in 2020.

California approved one of the the biggest installations of battery-based energy-storage systems in the U.S. as the state moves to add power resources to its grid after suffering from rolling blackouts.

The California Public Utilities Commission signed off on previously announced utility contracts for nearly 1.2 gigawatts of battery storage capacity that is expected to be in service by August of next year. The commission’s vote comes less than two weeks after California’s grid operator imposed power shutoffs that left millions in the dark during a record heat wave.

Read more: The Day California Went Dark Was a Crisis Years in the Making

Last year, state regulators ordered utilities to secure an additional 3.3 gigawatts of reserve supplies as it anticipated electricity shortfalls with the retirement of aging natural gas plants. The batteries will be able to soak up excess energy produced by California’s solar farms during the day and discharge that electricity when the sun goes down and solar production falls.

In May, Edison International’s Southern California Edison said it had inked deals for 770 megawatts of battery projects and PG&E Corp. said it had agreements for 423 megawatts to help close the gap. Those contracts were approved Thursday.

Separately, the commission allowed Southern California Edison to sign short-term contracts to buy power from several natural gas units.

“California recently experienced reliability challenges not seen in decades and we are working to identify the root causes,” CPUC Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma said in a statement. “Our decisions today continue to build the foundation of our resource adequacy program by securing additional contingency resources for use when needed.”

The largest battery storage system in North Carolina is now in operation with Duke Energy at the helm.

The 9-MW system is operating next to a Duke Energy substation in the Shiloh community of Asheville, N.C. The project, featuring a lithium-ion Samsung battery array, cost almost $15 million to install.

The Shiloh energy storage facility will provide support to the electric system, including frequency regulation and other grid services.

“Energy storage will play a significant role in how we deliver energy to customers now and into the future as we act to reduce carbon emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president.

See more PE stories about Duke Energy

The utility giant plans to invest about $600 million to install 375 MW of energy storage across its regulated businesses. Duke already has more than a decade’s worth of experience with battery storage, including the 36-MW storage system next to its Notrees Wind Facility in Texas.

The Shiloh battery storage system is one of several Duke projects in the Asheville area. The $817 million combined cycle station became operational in April, replacing a recently retired coal-fired plant.

Yulong Ding, director of the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Energy Storage, UK, explains how Chinese companies are keen to work with international teams to develop new technologies.

What led you to focus on energy storage?
My research on energy storage started approximately 20 years ago. Back then, China was playing catch-up in this field. But in the past decade, the country’s expertise has drawn roughly parallel with that of Europe and the United States.

I came to the United Kingdom in 1994 to do my PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham, after finishing my undergraduate and master’s degrees in thermal energy engineering at the University of Science and Technology, Beijing. I went on to complete six years of teaching and research there.

How has energy-storage research in China developed in recent decades?
My collaborations with China are mainly in thermal and liquid air energy storage. My team has several postdocs and PhD students from China, and we regularly have Chinese professors visiting. I think there will be fewer international students over the next few years because tuition fees have increased; to study here costs close to £30,000 (US$39,200) per year now, and many postdocs want to start their careers in China because they can find better-paid positions there, and the research quality has increased.

Although China leads the world in its capacity to produce solar and wind energy, roughly two-thirds of China’s electricity is generated by coal. So it has real clean-energy challenges.

What projects are you currently working on with teams in China?
In 2016, our centre established a joint energy-storage research laboratory with the Beijing-based State Grid Corporation of China, which operates the country’s electricity network. We now have six completed research projects related to energy conversion and storage. A seventh, secured during lockdown, is in progress. For example, we are developing materials for use in energy storage that change from solid to liquid, and back again, to release power.

Smart grid, energy storage and EV charger solutions provider Alfen has made significant quarterly increases in revenues in all three segments according to the Dutch company’s reporting of its latest financial results.

Alfen, listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange, today reported half-year total revenues of €90.3 million (US$106.71 million) which it said was up 47% from the equivalent period last year, when it netted €61.6 million. It made an adjusted net profit of €5.3 million, which was an enormous 266% leap on H1 2019’s €1.4 million of profits. EBITDA was more than doubled from €4.9 million to €10 million.

The company said in a press release that its “strong profitable growth” for the half-year ending 30 June 2020 included a 154% rise in EV charging solutions revenues, 67% rise in energy storage revenues and 23% rise in its smart grid revenues.

Energy storage ‘market fundamentals remain solid’
Alfen’s investment in solar PV including developing solar park servicing offerings is paying off, with a contract signed with solar farm developer Goldbeck to look after 180MWp of solar capacity across six sites in the Netherlands among recent highlights.

In the EV segment, existing deals have been scaling up, new customers won and new territories reached, the company said. Alfen also pointed out that the EV market appears to have been more resilient than much of the light duty vehicle market during the COVID-19 downturn and also said that favourable policies by governments, particularly in Europe, to support vehicle electrification, were also positive influences that are expected to be ongoing.

Energy storage however, while a growing market, was more badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, Alfen said, calling market circumstances in Q2 2020 “challenging” with decision making “postponed across the industry”. The company claimed however that its already proven track record in the energy storage sector is “playing to its advantage as well as its strong market position”.