US is undisputed storage leader, China to gather speed - GTM

The US, Australia and Germany are the world’s top three energy storage markets for now, but China is expected to quickly enter the list and keep the second place, after the US as the undisputed leader, between 2019 and 2022.

This is according to GTM Research’s first global energy storage report, in which the market research company says the global market will reach 8.6 GW and 21.6 GWh by 2022.

“Several markets will see continuous refinement of policy and market mechanisms to encourage energy storage on several fronts – renewable integration, time-of-day-based PPA [power purchase agreement] structures, competitive market redesigns, retail rate reforms, urban and remote microgrids, and distributed resources for grid services and as virtual power plants,” GTM explains. All that will allow storage deployment to jump from the 1.4 GW and 2.3 GWh recorded in 2017.

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Ravi Manghani, lead author of the report and energy storage director at GTM, explains that innovative market design is crucial for the success of energy storage. “The US is way ahead when it comes to setting the right kinds of policies and market mechanisms to give the right kinds of business model signals to the industry to participate,” Manghani adds.

Australia was the storage leader when it comes to power capacity with 246 MW in 2017, including 100 MW built by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the Hornsdale wind farm. The US, meanwhile, was first in terms of energy capacity with 431 MWh and it will remain the market leader through 2022.

According to GTM Research, China and Japan will soon replace in the top three list Australia and Germany. In 2022, however, the US is still expected to have twice as much cumulative power and energy capacity as China.

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