Energy Storage To Drive New Energy Expansion

Energy Storage Is Now Booming As The World Moves Faster To Renewable Energy

Matt Bohlsen, April 12, 2021 (Seeking Alpha)

“…Energy storage adoption is already rapidly accelerating in the USA, up 182% QoQ in Q4 2020. Looking out further, BloombergNEF (BNEF) forecasts a 122x increase in global energy storage from 2018 to 2040…[and] that utility scale energy storage will be the dominant sector, meaning the utility companies that supply grid scale electricity, rather than behind-the-meter residential energy storage. If correct, this means utility energy storage is the area of greatest growth potential…

…Apart from dams, the most common form of energy storage is using batteries. The most common form of battery by far, for now, is lithium-ion; however, other types such as vanadium redox flow [VRFB], zinc flow and other methods (compressed air, flywheel, thermal, gravitational) also have potential….Demand for USA energy storage increased nearly 182% QoQ in Q4 2020, boosted by demand from utility scale installations…[It will] benefit from the accelerated move towards renewable energy…[which] need energy storage back up to perform at their best…

Lithium-ion battery costs are falling the fastest due to their need in electric vehicles. Rapid scaling of new gigafactories is leading to falling battery costs at about 18% pa. Lithium-ion batteries have a price advantage over most competitors due to current economies of scale from large scale global production…Battery-pack prices have fallen 18% for every doubling of cumulative manufactured volume…[That is expected to continue] for at least the next 10 years…[and] lead to battery-pack prices of $93/kWh by 2024 and $61/kWh by 2030…[Vanadium redox flow batteries are also expected to scaleand] drop in price…

…The BNEF New Energy Outlook 2020 forecasts global capacity almost triples and renewables go from 35% in 2019] to 68% in 2050…while fossil-fuel capacity drops from 56% to] just 24%...[with an average $486 billion annual investment in new generation totaling $15.1 trillion by 2050 and] $11 trillion, or 73%, goes to renewables…” click here for more

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