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REPORT # Nano-363 PUBLISHED May 02, 2011
Energy Storage Markets in the Solar Energy Industry
CATEGORIES :
  • Renewable Energy
  • 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 begun
     
    NanoMarkets 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. 
  • TABLE OF CONTENTS
    Executive Summary
    E.1 Traditional Markets for Solar Energy Storage:  Lead-Acid Batteries
    E.1.1 Feed-In Tariff Changes and How They Drive the Solar Storage Industry
    E.1.2 Lead-Acid Batteries in the Solar Industry:  A Hard Way to Make Money
    E.2  Storage for Utility-Scale PV and CSP
    E.3 Opportunities for Solar-Power Storage by Type of Storage Technology
    E.3.1 Solar-Power Storage in Microgrids
    E.4 Firms to Watch in Solar-Related Storage
    E.5 Summary of Eight-Year Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage
    E.5.1 Opportunities for Solar-Power Storage by World Region
     
    Chapter One: Introduction
    1.1 Background to this Report
    1.1.1 Solar Industry Growth Drives Opportunities in Energy Storage Markets
    1.1.2 Solar-Power Storage Markets Vary by Application and Technology
    1.2   Goal and Scope of this Report
    1.3 Methodology of this Report
    1.4 Plan of this Report
     
    Chapter Two: Driver and Technologies for Solar-Related Energy Storage
    2.1 Current Status of Storage for Solar Systems
    2.1.1 Limitations on Solar As a Market for Energy Storage
    2.1.2 PV Storage
    2.1.3 Storage for Grid-Scale Solar
    2.1.4 Other Types of Solar Power and Weighting of Solar Storage Opportunities
    2.2 Three Key Drivers for Storage in Solar Power Environments
    2.2.1 Periodic Regular and Irregular Variations in Solar Power
    2.2.2 Non-Dispatchability: Future Opportunities for Dispatchable Solar
    2.2.3 Grid Stability and Reliability
    2.2.4 Energy Pricing
    2.3 Available Energy Storage Technologies for the Solar Industry
    2.3.1 Lead-Acid and Lead-Carbon Batteries
    2.3.2 Metal Hydride Batteries
    2.3.3 Sodium Sulfur Batteries
    2.3.4 Flow Battery Systems
    2.2.5 Lithium Batteries
    2.2.6 Liquid Metal Batteries
    2.2.7 Supercapacitors
    2.2.8 Ultrabatteries
    2.2.9 Pumped Hydro-Electric Storage
    2.2.10 Compressed Air Energy Storage
    2.2.11 Flywheels
    2.2.12 Superconducting Storage
    2.2.13 Other Energy Storage Technologies
    2.3 Related and Competitive Technologies and Solutions
    2.3.1 Smart Grids and Solar Storage
    2.3.2 FACTS
    2.3.3 Renewable Integration Management Systems (RIMS)
    2.4 Key Points Made In this Chapter
     
    Chapter Three:  Markets and Roadmaps for Solar-Related Energy Storage
    3.1 Patterns of Evolution for Addressable Markets for Solar Storage
    3.1.1 Photovoltaics
    3.1.2  Thermal Solar/CSP and Thermal Storage
    3.2 United States and Solar Energy Storage
    3.2.1 Californian Energy Storage Requirements
    3.2.2 BYD in Los Angeles
    3.2.3 Prudent Energy Projects
    3.2.4 Maui Electric Company Storage Project
    3.2.5 SunPower, Ice Energy and Target
    3.2.6 Philadelphia’s Navy Yard Project
    3.3 Europe and Solar Energy Storage
    3.3.1 Cellstrom and Batteries for Solar-Charging Stations
    3.3.2 Saft and Acciona
    3.4 Asia and Solar Energy Storage
    3.4.1 Malaysian Ministry of Rural Development
    3.4.2 Gypsum Metropolitan Tower in Thailand
    3.5 Other Markets for Solar Energy Storage
    3.6 Key Points Made In this Chapter
     
    Chapter Four: Eight-Year Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage Markets
    4.1 Forecasting Methodology
    4.1.1 Coverage of Forecasts
    4.1.2 Data Sources
    4.1.3 Alternative Scenarios
    4.2 Solar-Power Storage Forecasts
    4.2.1 Some Notes on Pricing
    4.2.2 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in North America
    4.2.3 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in Europe
    4.2.4 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in Japan
    4.2.5 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in China
    4.2.6 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in India
    4.2.7 Forecasts of Solar-Related Energy Storage in the Rest of the World
    4.2.8 Summary of Forecasts of Solar-Related Storage
    Acronyms and Abbreviations Used In this Report
    About the Author
     
     
    List 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   

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