British research institution Aurora Energy Research pointed out that Europe will be increasing its quantity of 10MW grid-grade energy storage systems each year, and could arrive at an accumulated capacity of 42GW by 2030, before potentially reaching 95GW by 2050. This also means that the period between 2023 and 2050 will see more than EU€70 billion of accumulated investment opportunities.
As indicated by thee report of Aurora Energy Research, batteries over 4 hours of storage capacity will occupy 61% of total devices by 2050, which is higher than 22% by 2025. In addition, Germany, UK, Greece, Ireland, and Italy have become the most enticing energy storage markets in Europe thanks to policies, support from regulations, feasible income stacking (multiple income sources), and demand for low-carbon and flexible energy.
Greece, for instance, has laid down the most ambitious target in Europe regarding battery and energy storage by hoping to arrive at an installed capacity of 6GW by 2030, and Italy is also aiming to climb to 3GW in installed capacity during the same year, while the UK and Irelands are offering relatively incentivizing opportunities in income stacking. However, the aforementioned research institution also pointed out that 14 out of 24 countries that underwent evaluation have yet to stipulate strategies and targets pertaining to energy storage, which include Germany, despite being a potential market for investment in energy storage systems thanks to its surging installed capacity of renewable energy.
Ryan Alexander, research lead of European power markets at Aurora Energy Research, commented that investors are now advantageous in leading the competition since the expected surge of battery demand throughout the next several decades would also introduce risks of saturation, where the confining market space in the future will only lower the level of revenue accordingly.
The report of research company LCP Delta also stated that 4.5GW of battery storage was installed in 2022, including 1.9GW of grid-grade battery plans. LCP Delta commented that the demand for flexible power systems is on the rise alongside the elevating installed capacity of renewable energy, and is expected to see 3.7GW of large batteries going online this year.
Battery energy storage systems are an important segment of energy transformation, and serve as the core for decarbonized, flexible, and cost effective energy systems through electrification and integration of energy systems. With that being said, Kadri Simson, EU Commissioner for Energy, spoke bluntly that a lot of people have neglected the functions of energy storage systems, and that the EU is currently drafting a number of measures to better Europe’s energy storage market, including regulation revisions for the power market.
(Cover photo source: Aurora Energy Research)