Users of US solar price comparison site EnergySage are increasingly drawn towards battery storage through concerns around having enough power in emergency situations, with 70% of users now requesting storage with their solar quotes. 

The cost of battery energy storage in the US fell by 72% between 2015 and 2019 and utilities in the country are set to bring 10,000MW of new grid-connected capacity online in the next two years. 

Anthony Price, one of the organisers of the annual International Flow Battery Forum and here discusses what was talked about at this year’s event — and how that fits in with the scaling up of energy storage we see around the world.

The US’ installed battery storage capacity reached 1,650MW by the end of 2020, but the country is on track to have nearly 10 times that amount by 2024, according to the national Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The pipeline for utility-scale battery storage in the UK has been continually increasing and is now over 20GW across more than 800 projects. A recent surge in submitted applications for battery storage has led to a record breaking quarterly submitted capacity for Q2’21.

A “once-in-a-generation” commitment to invest in the US’ national infrastructure includes financial support for energy storage supply chains and renewable energy deployment, but not the investment tax credit for standalone energy storage.

As energy system modernisation and decarbonisation progresses, energy storage could represent between 10% and 25% of India’s total installed power capacity by 2050, while other countries in South Asia including Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan also have “significant opportunities” for energy storage.

Battery storage could play the same role on the grid as a proposed 60MW natural gas and fuel oil peaker plant in Massachusetts and not only result in lower emissions but also in cost savings.

The European Union has raised the bar for standards in the battery supply chain with a set of regulations it intends to introduce, but a group of academics and industry experts has pointed out some drawbacks with its approach. One of those experts talks to Energy-Storage.news about the implications for stationary energy storage systems.

A grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) has come online in northeastern France, which will be used by the national transmission grid operator RTE to assess the role of automated electricity storage in managing power flows.