Biggest and Best: Energy storage market claims record year
The U.S. energy storage market just had both its best quarter and best year of all time.
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Annual U.S. Energy Storage Deployments 2012-2015. Click on image to enlarge. Credit: GTM Research/ESA U.S. Energy Storage Monitor |
That is according to joint research from GTM Research and the
Energy Storage Association who report that the U.S. deployed 112
megawatts of energy storage capacity in the fourth quarter of
2015 -- bringing the annual total to 221 megawatts and
representing 161 megawatt-hours for the year.
The 112 megawatts deployed in the fourth quarter 2015
represented more than the total of all storage deployments in
2013 and 2014 combined. Propelled by that historic quarter, the
U.S. energy storage market grew 243 percent over 2014's 65
megawatts (86 megawatt-hours), the research says.
The utility segment, also called front-of-meter, continues to be
the bedrock of the U.S. energy storage market. In 2015,
front-of-meter storage accounted for 85 percent of all
deployments for the year; most were in the PJM market, where
over 160 megawatts of energy storage systems went on-line in
2015, according to the research.
While much smaller, the behind-the-meter market, consisting of residential and non-residential segments, grew 405 percent in 2015, the research revealed, with the residential market led by Hawaii and the non-residential segment led by California.
GTM Research forecasts that the annual U.S. energy storage market will cross the 1 gigawatt mark in 2019, and by 2020 it will be a 1.7 gigawatt market valued at $2.5 billion.
"We can look back at 2015 as the year when energy storage really took off," said Ravi Manghani, GTM Research senior energy storage analyst and author of the report. "While most of the growth was limited to a single wholesale market of PJM, we expect growing interest for storage in several markets."
More utilities are considering storage along with an assortment of traditional and non-traditional assets to meet reliability, capacity and system upgrade needs. The recent extension of several federal renewable tax credits is expected to further boost energy storage as more storage paired with renewables will be deployed.
"Energy storage is changing the paradigm on how we generate, distribute and use energy. With exponential growth predicted over the next couple of years, energy storage solutions will deliver smarter, more dynamic energy services, address peak demand challenges and enable the expanded use of renewable generation like wind and solar," said Matt Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association. "The net result will be a more resilient and flexible grid infrastructure that benefits American businesses and consumers."
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