Solar storage market to be worth $19bn by 2017

Global installations of solar storage systems are forecast to grow by more than 100% a year in the next five years, with a market worth $19 billion (£16bn). Total installed […]

Global installations of solar storage systems are forecast to grow by more than 100% a year in the next five years, with a market worth $19 billion (£16bn).

Total installed capacity could reach almost 7GW in 2017, with Germany expected to account for more than two thirds (70%) of the worldwide total this year once it launches an incentive scheme for photovoltaic (PV) storage.

Analysts at IHS predict the subsidy will promote rapid growth in the German residential sector and lead to almost 2GWh of storage capacity being installed every year until 2017.

Sam Wilkinson, PV analyst at IHS said pricey home electricity rates now “significantly exceed” home feed-in tariff rates which is driving “strong interest” in home PV systems.

Energy storage will begin to take off in the UK from around 2014, as prices for the technology start to fall, he added: “We do expect that other countries will follow Germany’s example and adopt similar subsidy schemes to promote the use of PV energy storage – particularly where there is a case for promoting self-consumption and grid stability.”

The analysts also expect storage to be used in larger system in order to improve the integration of PV into the grid and meet increasing demand. Utility-scale solar systems with storage are forecast to grow by more than 2GW every year by 2017, with Asia and the US dominating the market.

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