According to a new report, battery storage systems could be being installed in Australian households at a huge rate of 55,000 per year within a decade.
Research group Energeia has developed a report that estimates battery storage demand will be big business by 2025.
This prediction is thanks to a number of factors including the fall of system price, traction of energy services business models and cost reflective tariffs, as well as feed-in tariffs being wound back.
Richard Murray, senior analyst at Energia, said that while some of the demand will be from already existing rooftop solar customers, the most is predicted to come from specific load profile customers that have a peak in the late afternoon and have access to network and retail tariffs that are cost reflective.
The report states that,“By 2020, we expect most new customers will be installing solar PV-storage systems. Our modelling shows the most popular storage systems to be in the three-four kWh range and tightly coupled with solar PV systems, sharing a common inverter and monitoring and control system.”
Because of this, the overall system cost will be minimized, which most likely incorporates load control ability to make use of flexible loads like pool pumping, slab heating and hot water.
It has also been noted by Energeia that the range of energy storage available has grown significantly since the last report on storage solutions in 2012.
A large chunk of the new systems have been designed so that they can combine with existing solar PV circuits which means they share the inverter, thus reducing system costs.
However, the report states that battery developers are yet to comprehend distributed storage economics in its entirety.
Energeias analysis demonstrates that no currently available units can provide a completely cost effective or absolute “set and forget” option, which is an issue expected to be bridged by the necessity of bolt-on software programs.
Policy and regulatory support for battery storage in the medium term will also be scarce, and solar/storage market successful contenders will change over to services business plans that leverages storage.
Mr Murray said that, “The latest research report dispels the sound and fury of the current crop of would-be storage players, solutions and strategies as ultimately signifying nothing with respect to the main …opportunity,’’.
“Instead, we see the ultimate winners as those whose strategic positioning best reflects the fundamental economics of storage.’’
