Who leads the world in energy storage?

In 2017, energy storage facilities reached 2.3 GWh, but who is the main promoter of this technology?

While renewable energy generation is presented as a future commitment for all countries that signed the Paris agreements, there is a related technology that is taking its first steps to become the one that will help renewables become the central pillar of future electricity generation.

This is none other than energy storage technology.Last year it managed to reach the still incipient figure of 2.3 GWh installed worldwide.

Energy storage drives renewables

This technology is key to eliminating the weather dependence of renewables. It allows for the storage of excess energy generated during periods of low demand, all with the aim of meeting peak energy needs for consumers.

In short,Energy storage can catapult renewable energy into a new scenario.In it, its dependence on weather and the inability to control its generation during periods of low demand will finally be a thing of the past.

This is why, despite its still limited implementation and the technology’s apparent lack of refinement, some countries are seeing this technological revolution as an opportunity to alleviate their energy deficit.

The main market players

Ranking of countries in energy storage

Today we’re going to analyze who the main market players are who are investing in energy storage. Join us!

According to the first report published by the energy and electricity grid consultancy GTM Research,Global Energy Storage“The major leaders in this nascent energy storage industry are the United States and Australia.”

Both countries have opted for a model of large-scale megaprojects. And they share a number of geographical and population characteristics that make this technology a solution for reaching isolated populations, especially in the case of Australia, where electricity is not always guaranteed.

Thus, Australia also shares the lead with Germany in the residential storage segment, which is still residual in the US.

The leader is the United States

The report highlights the efforts undertaken by Australia, which ranked first in 2017 with 246 megawatts of installed capacity, surpassing the United States, the leading researcher in this type of technology.

This achievement is backed by megaprojects that the Oceanic country has undertaken this year, such as the…world’s largest lithium batteryCapable of storing electricity for 30,000 homes thanks to its 100 MW capacity.

Despite these impressive figures, the United States leads the pack with 431 megawatt-hours deployed on the electrical grid last year. Australia comes in second, followed by Germany, China, and Japan.

In addition to these countries, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, and India have sizable energy storage industries, though they are far from the top positions.

And what about the future? China is positioning itself as the market leader.

While the United States and Australia currently lead the energy storage market, China, unsurprisingly, will set the pace for this sector in the future, according to a report by GTM Research. The Asian nation is projected to move from leading several pilot projects to surpassing all other countries in just five years.

By 2020, China and Japan are expected to overtake Australia to reach second and third place in the rankings, respectively. In this way, China, with its extensive experience in the battery market, is laying the groundwork for overtaking the United States in the sector during the 2020s, a foreseeable development given the current efforts of the Asian economy to promote renewable energy technologies.