According to foreign media reports, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association recently released an annual market survey report, predicted that the European residential energy storage market will be on the rise and continue to accelerate growth, the combination of economic and non-economic drivers will achieve 400% growth in five years. By 2025, the total capacity of residential battery energy storage systems deployed in Europe will reach 12.8GWh.
Germany has become Europe's largest home storage market, driven by environmental concerns and a desire for energy independence. Residential users with residential solar + energy storage systems pay nearly a third less than non-deployed users, at 0.122 euros ($0.137) per kWh.
About 60% of residential solar power systems in Germany are deployed with battery storage systems, and high electricity prices are a direct factor driving this trend.
By 2020, the cumulative number of residential battery energy storage systems deployed in Europe has exceeded 100,000, with a total storage capacity of 3GWh.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of THE European Photovoltaic Industry Association, said: "With the popularity of residential solar, more and more home users are realizing that battery storage systems will maximize the value of their residential solar power systems. While Europe is increasingly exposed to gas-related energy price shocks, solar generation systems and storage systems are clearly the clear answer to energy price volatility."
For 2021, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association forecasts a more similar picture, with a cumulative capacity of 4.4GWh.
Perhaps less optimistically, only a few countries in Europe are keen on energy storage deployments. Germany, Italy, the UK, Austria and Switzerland account for 93 per cent of the European market, with Germany alone accounting for 70 per cent of total storage deployments in 2020. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association says this is likely to remain the same for now, with the five countries likely to account for 88% even by 2025.
Need to focus more on 'huge potential'
The European Photovoltaic Industry Association believes that policymakers need to focus more on battery storage systems as a complementary technology to solar power generation.
In order to meet the Climate goals of the Paris Agreement and have a chance to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C, the deployment targets of solar power facilities in the 2030 National Energy Climate Plan (NECP) must more than double, and battery storage systems have great potential in integrating clean energy, according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association.
Walburga Hemetsberger said, "The combination of solar power facilities and energy storage systems is key to achieving climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. Not only will it enable the EU to increase its share of renewable energy, but importantly, the Solar + Storage project will provide reliable, clean and cost-effective energy for homes and households. National policy makers must recognize this tremendous potential and consider deploying more distributed energy storage systems as they revise national energy and climate plans."
It argues that the EU's clean energy package is moving too slowly. The clean energy package includes guidelines for regulation to support consumer and consumptive business models - that is, allowing customers to take electricity from residential solar installations and sell it to each other rather than feeding it to the grid - but so far only a few EU member states have included it in their national standard regulations.
Some existing policy frameworks in Europe are actively promoting the use of battery storage systems, such as the Net metering policy in the Netherlands. Support should also be given to methods that use battery storage systems to play a greater role in the power system, such as virtual power plants (VPPS).
Mature markets with strong economic drivers no longer need subsidy programmes, as Germany has shown, but in other markets some support programmes may be needed to stimulate interest, the report said.
Michael Schmela, Head of market Intelligence at the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, said, "The EU Clean Energy Package provides a clear solution for EU member states to facilitate the roll-out of energy storage deployment across Europe. "If we want to see the residential battery storage market in the rest of Europe flourish and help insulate users from rising energy prices, this country needs to move faster to fully implement the clean energy package."
A supportive regulatory and policy framework allows the potential benefits of residential battery storage to be realized, which could drive higher projections of 14.6GWh cumulative installations by 2025. Although the residential energy storage market will grow even under the most pessimistic scenario, total storage capacity deployed in 2025 will reach 10.2GWh.
According to Raffaele Rossi, senior policy analyst at the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, the value of the energy storage industry to Europe, both economically and environmentally, also needs to be demonstrated through future-oriented EU regulation of battery storage systems.
Rossi said this would support the competitiveness of "strategic industrial sectors" while avoiding overtaxing battery manufacturers or deterring investors.
"It is essential to establish a sustainability and quality framework for battery requirements, but any framework must avoid distorting the market," he said.
A survey published earlier this year by The European Energy Storage Association (EASE) noted that the cumulative storage capacity of all segments in Europe reached 5.26GWh by the end of 2020, meaning residential energy storage systems constitute a significant portion of the European energy storage market.
