While lithium-ion is rapidly racing ahead to become the “de facto grid storage solution” and is the most popular technology choice by far, vendors of other types of batteries are also targeting the market, with varying degrees of success.

To date, Primary Control Reserve (PCR) has dominated the energy storage debate in Germany with more than 100MW of battery storage installed in 2016 alone specifically for participating in the PCR market. At the same time, with close to 25,000 systems sold in 2016, residential storage has been stealing the limelight in the behind-the-meter segment. Julian Jansen of Delta-ee looks at how his team expects the commercial and industrial (C&I) segment to start catching up.

While Germany is one of the world’s leaders in solar PV and now an early leader in residential energy storage, utility-scale energy storage is still “under discussion” and not yet a mature proposition, industry figures have said.

While seeming “tech breakthroughs” garner a great deal of media attention, the three key factors in determining the likely impact of storage tech companies are innovative technology, scalability and a proven track record, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst has said.

The deployment of energy storage in the US is set to triple in 2015 compared to 2014, according to a new report by GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association (ESA).

This year will be the one when “PV energy storage systems (PVESS) make an enormous leap toward wide-scale adoption”, according to research firm IHS.

The annual energy capacity of batteries used in utility-scale applications will be seen to increase by a factor of more than 100 between now and 2023, according to a new report published by US analysis firm Navigant Research.