The next two decades will be boom time for energy storage systems that can support the renewable energy transition, according to a new BloombergNEF report.
There is set to be a 122-fold increase in deployed installations, up from 9GW/17GWh today, to 1,095GW/2,850GWh by 2040, BNEF reveals; which will need $662 billion of new investment in the technology. As more and more low-cost wind and solar energy flows into electricity systems, increased storage capabilities will also help ‘manage the dynamic supply and demand mix’ it generates. While a continuing fall in the cost of lithium-ion batteries will contribute to accelerating the trend; with Yayoi Sekine, energy storage analyst for BNEF and co-author of the report, adding that “the majority of new capacity will be utility-scale”.
Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at BNEF, said: “In the near term, renewables-plus-storage, especially solar-plus-storage, has become a major driver for battery build. This is a new era of dispatchable renewables, based on new contract structures between developer and grid.”
