GTM sees attractive commercial energy storage economics in 19 US states by 2021

The number of US states in which commercial energy storage economics are attractive is expected to rise to 19 by 2021 from seven today, shows a new report from GTM Research.

In its latest report, The Economics of Commercial Energy Storage in the US, the research firm determines the opportunity for demand charge management for commercial energy storage customers by analyzing rate structures across 51 utilities.

The report says that in order to achieve favourable economics for energy storage today, demand-charge rates of at least USD 15 (EUR 13.52) per kW per month are needed. It also shows that by 2021 commercial storage economics will be favourable for some utility tariffs with demand charges as low as USD 11 per kW per month.

GTM Research estimates that in 2021 there will be 17 US states where large commercial customers have an internal rate of return of at least 5%, while for small/medium-sized systems, 14 states will be economically attractive. Overall, 19 unique states are expected to have attractive economics by that time.

Under an aggressive cost reduction case, storage costs are seen to decline 15% annually over the next five years, which would result in commercial storage being economically attractive in as many as 26 states.

Between 2013 and 2015, US commercial energy storage installations increased fourteenfold, GTM Research noted.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.901)

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