NanoMarkets provides market research and industry analysis of opportunities within advanced materials and emerging energy and electronics markets
REPORT # Nano-363
PUBLISHED May 02, 2011
Energy Storage Markets in the Solar Energy Industry
CATEGORIES :
- Renewable Energy
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SUMMARY
The solar energy industry is continuing to evolve and grow, leading to diverse opportunities in the energy storage space. Small lead-acid batteries have been used for many years in small off-grid photovoltaics (PV) systems and will remain an important part of the “solar storage” market. But recent developments have created significant new revenue opportunities:· The new breed of microgrids requires much larger energy storage systems than the traditional batteries used for off-grid applications. One need here is for considerably higher energy densities to handle microgrids that include large PV generators. It is as yet unclear, what kind energy storage systems will be best for this kind of application· As metering technology advances, the introduction of energy storage by building owners will give those owners the ability to the best advantage of feed-in-tariffs. This is virgin territory waiting for a specialized type of energy storage systems to emerge· Utility-scale solar plants – both PV and solar thermal – are suddenly being taken much more seriously, because of the recent problems of the nuclear industry. Large solar plants inevitably require large energy storage systems, with energy density requirements that most of today’s commercialized storage systems cannot yet offer.· Utilities will have to cope with a highly distributed network of solar energy sources, generating energy in an intermittent fashion. This is not a situation with which current grids are designed to cope and the Smart Grids of the future will need to incorporate energy storage buffers, if they are to optimize the use of solar in their network. Deployment of batteries in the grid to meet these requirements have not yet begunNanoMarkets believes that as the result of such trends, there is a large and growing opportunity for energy storage firms of many kinds to sell into the solar power market. This will mean that the energy storage firms will have to better understand where the money will be made in this space over the next few years and what kind of batteries will be used; the dominance of lead-acid batteries in the solar power space is clearly about to change.In this report, we analyze in detail the requirements for solar-power-related storage and where in the solar power industry purchases of energy storage systems are likely to be made. We also examine the many different energy storage technologies that might serve the needs of solar storage.In addition, we take a look at solar-related energy storage in the context of a total market picture, looking at how solar energy storage will be impacted by the arrival of improved renewable energy management systems, improved weather forecasting, and Smart Grids. This report is a unique guide to where energy storage firms can make money in the solar power industry.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive SummaryE.1 Traditional Markets for Solar Energy Storage: Lead-Acid BatteriesE.1.1 Feed-In Tariff Changes and How They Drive the Solar Storage IndustryE.1.2 Lead-Acid Batteries in the Solar Industry: A Hard Way to Make MoneyE.2 Storage for Utility-Scale PV and CSPE.3 Opportunities for Solar-Power Storage by Type of Storage TechnologyE.3.1 Solar-Power Storage in MicrogridsE.4 Firms to Watch in Solar-Related StorageE.5 Summary of Eight-Year Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy StorageE.5.1 Opportunities for Solar-Power Storage by World RegionChapter One: Introduction1.1 Background to this Report1.1.1 Solar Industry Growth Drives Opportunities in Energy Storage Markets1.1.2 Solar-Power Storage Markets Vary by Application and Technology1.2 Goal and Scope of this Report1.3 Methodology of this Report1.4 Plan of this ReportChapter Two: Driver and Technologies for Solar-Related Energy Storage2.1 Current Status of Storage for Solar Systems2.1.1 Limitations on Solar As a Market for Energy Storage2.1.2 PV Storage2.1.3 Storage for Grid-Scale Solar2.1.4 Other Types of Solar Power and Weighting of Solar Storage Opportunities2.2 Three Key Drivers for Storage in Solar Power Environments2.2.1 Periodic Regular and Irregular Variations in Solar Power2.2.2 Non-Dispatchability: Future Opportunities for Dispatchable Solar2.2.3 Grid Stability and Reliability2.2.4 Energy Pricing2.3 Available Energy Storage Technologies for the Solar Industry2.3.1 Lead-Acid and Lead-Carbon Batteries2.3.2 Metal Hydride Batteries2.3.3 Sodium Sulfur Batteries2.3.4 Flow Battery Systems2.2.5 Lithium Batteries2.2.6 Liquid Metal Batteries2.2.7 Supercapacitors2.2.8 Ultrabatteries2.2.9 Pumped Hydro-Electric Storage2.2.10 Compressed Air Energy Storage2.2.11 Flywheels2.2.12 Superconducting Storage2.2.13 Other Energy Storage Technologies2.3 Related and Competitive Technologies and Solutions2.3.1 Smart Grids and Solar Storage2.3.2 FACTS2.3.3 Renewable Integration Management Systems (RIMS)2.4 Key Points Made In this ChapterChapter Three: Markets and Roadmaps for Solar-Related Energy Storage3.1 Patterns of Evolution for Addressable Markets for Solar Storage3.1.1 Photovoltaics3.1.2 Thermal Solar/CSP and Thermal Storage3.2 United States and Solar Energy Storage3.2.1 Californian Energy Storage Requirements3.2.2 BYD in Los Angeles3.2.3 Prudent Energy Projects3.2.4 Maui Electric Company Storage Project3.2.5 SunPower, Ice Energy and Target3.2.6 Philadelphia’s Navy Yard Project3.3 Europe and Solar Energy Storage3.3.1 Cellstrom and Batteries for Solar-Charging Stations3.3.2 Saft and Acciona3.4 Asia and Solar Energy Storage3.4.1 Malaysian Ministry of Rural Development3.4.2 Gypsum Metropolitan Tower in Thailand3.5 Other Markets for Solar Energy Storage3.6 Key Points Made In this ChapterChapter Four: Eight-Year Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage Markets4.1 Forecasting Methodology4.1.1 Coverage of Forecasts4.1.2 Data Sources4.1.3 Alternative Scenarios4.2 Solar-Power Storage Forecasts4.2.1 Some Notes on Pricing4.2.2 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in North America4.2.3 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in Europe4.2.4 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in Japan4.2.5 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in China4.2.6 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in India4.2.7 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in the Rest of the World4.2.8 Summary of Forecasts of Solar-Related StorageAcronyms and Abbreviations Used In this ReportAbout the AuthorList of Exhibits:Exhibit E-1: Worldwide Markets for Solar-Energy Related Storage by Technology ($ Millions).Exhibit 2-1: Benefits of Selected FACTS.Exhibit 4-1: Cost Per Kilowatt Hour for Various Storage Technologies ($/kWh).Exhibit 4-2: North American Market for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-3: European Market for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-4: Japanese Market for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-5: Chinese Market for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-6: Indian Market for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-7: Other Asian Markets for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-8: Other Markets for Solar-Energy Related Storage.Exhibit 4-9: Worldwide Markets for Solar-Energy Related Storage by Technology.Exhibit 4-10: Worldwide Markets for Solar-Energy Related Storage by Region