Danish brewer Carlsberg is considering installation of an energy storage facility at its Falkenberg plant in Sweden.

Carlsberg’s director of environment and utilities, Adam Pawelas told the edie Powering Ahead webinar  that the global brewer is in the “early stages” of exploring integration methods for energy storage to support onsite generation.

During the webinar, Carlsberg’s director of environment and utilities, Adam Pawelas, noted that storage solutions are being explored by the brewer, but only as one part of the energy matrix.

“At the moment, we consider battery storage a supplementary solution. We are at the early stages and will not be focusing solely on batteries,” Pawelas said. “In some markets, power-load management is a feasible option to be an active player either by us or by a third party.”

“We have some locations where we would like to grow our solar projects where our base load will not be able to consume the installed capacity of those solar PV systems, and there, we will consider the extension of battery storage.”

Carlsberg signed up to the 1.5C emission reduction target set by the Paris Agreement. It currently sources 45% of its electricity onsite. The company has vowed to source 100% renewable electricity and eliminate coal as a source of energy by 2022.

In the midst of an earnings call dominated by discussions about Tesla’s long-awaited Model 3 electric car, CEO Elon Musk also discussed the company’s energy storage business.

Musk noted that Tesla had shut down a Powerwall battery manufacturing production line in order to make more batteries for its Model 3 car, but said “we’re adding new cell lines and we’ll be able to address” cell shortages very soon.

That will enable Tesla to soon triple its storage business, CFO Deepak Ahuja, said.

Jeffrey Straubel, Tesla’s chief technology officer, noted that the 1 GWh number the company offered analysts for guidance is “a big number … maybe on the order of 300% what we did the prior year and we’re still aiming at maybe another 3 times to 4 times growth for 2019.”

“These are insane growth levels,” Musk said.

Musk said that one of the challenges Tesla is facing in growing its energy storage business is a shortage of trained electricians. It takes two years to train and certify an electrician. “We obviously can’t grow faster than the rates, the number of electricians who can physically install a Powerwall. That’s like one of the limitations.”

Musk also noted some limitations on the growth of its solar business. Tesla reported that it installed 84 MW of solar power in the quarter, which is 11% higher than in the first quarter but down 52% from the same quarter last year. The company said solar growth rates should remain stable for the rest of the year and attributed the slower pace to the difficulty of validating the life span of the company’s solar rooftop shingles, which the company has said can last anywhere from 30 to 50 years.

Tesla projected that “solar deployments should remain stable in the second half of this year.” If the pace of the past three months holds through the end of 2018, Tesla will end the year with 329 MW of solar power deployed, its lowest four quarter total since 2014.

“We now have several hundred homes with the Solar Roof on them, and that’s going well,” Musk said. He also mentioned that Tesla is working with first responders to make sure its solar roofs are safe in the event of a fire.

Musk said he expects to ramp up production of solar cells at the company’s Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, N.Y., next year.

Clean energy advocates are increasingly focusing their hopes on battery storage to supply power to the grid from the sun and the wind, particularly during times of peak demand when the weather might be, inconveniently, cloudy and still.

In fact, the clean energy bill passed this week on Beacon Hill called for increasing the energy storage target from 200 megawatts to 1,000 megawatts by the end of 2025, and ordered study of a mobile emergency relief battery system. “Batteries are key to extending the life of clean energy and we want to see that battery sector really grow,” state Senator Michael Barrett told the State House News Service on Monday night. “So this is a major job-creation piece.”

He’s got that right. Lithium-ion batteries have improved markedly in recent years and are being used in New England, California, and in Europe to store power from renewable energy sources. In Casco Bay, Maine, a battery room packed with more than 1,000 lithium-ion batteries helps stabilize the grid, according to NextEra, helping to keep electricity flowing at 60 hertz, or cycles per second, the longtime standard for US households. And ISO New England reports that there are a dozen projects in the pipeline that involve connecting a battery to either a new or existing solar or wind facility.

Because renewable energy sources are crucial for reducing the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, demand is only going to increase as stricter regulations kick in and as new products are developed — car companies project that 10 million to 20 million electric vehicles will be produced each year by 2025.

We all know that Tesla’s all-electric car catalog is really, really cool. Who wouldn’t want to have a Tesla Model S, X, 3, and/or Roadster in her garage? But Tesla’s energy products also have great potential to hasten the world’s inevitable shift towards sustainable energy.

Yesterday’s Tesla shareholder letter and accompanying conference call outlined, in part, the current status of Tesla energy products and the future of this component of the company. As utilities, energy companies, commercial entities, and homeowners quickly realize the benefits of battery storage, the picture will look increasingly brighter for Tesla Energy — even if the numbers right now are a bit lackluster.

With the acquisition of SolarCity and Gigafactory 2, Tesla offers a full suite of energy products that incorporates solar, storage, and grid services. As the world’s only fully integrated sustainable energy company, it is encouraging businesses and people to think electric car + solar panels + battery storage as an integrated whole.

What yesterday’s investor and media announcements indicated, however, is that Tesla Energy is in transition. There is tremendous demand, but relatively low Tesla solar volumes are expected in 2018. In total, cash flow from solar is anticipated to remain neutral and relatively stable for the remainder of 2018, the company said.

In May 2018, Tesla reached the goal of deploying 1 GWh of energy storage worldwide after fewer than 5 years. Near-term goals are to add another 1 GWh of energy storage within 9 to 12 months.

Demand for Tesla’s energy storage products can’t keep up with production even as the company continually adds capacity. That means growing energy business revenue in the remainder of 2018, but more around the corner.

In response to a question from CleanTechnica Director Zachary Shahan, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated, “we’re kind of cell starved for Powerwall right now, so we actually had to artificially limit the number of Powerwalls because we don’t have enough cells. So we’re solving for that very rapidly and we expect to ramp up Powerwall and Powerpack production substantially later this year and early next — as well as ramping up retrofit solar and then the Solar Roof.”

SEIA’s measured reaction

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The energy storage market in China is expected to post a CAGR of close to 40% during the period 2018-2022, according to the latest market research report by Technavio. However, the growth momentum of the market is expected to decelerate due to a decline in the year-over-year growth.

A key factor driving the growth of the market is the energy revolution. China is one of the largest economies in the world. It is experiencing high economic growth due to which the power needs of the country have grown exponentially. The country is undergoing an energy revolution, where millions of dollars are being invested to increase the share of renewable energy in meeting its growing energy needs. China has become the largest wind and solar energy producer in the world due to the aggressive renewable energy targets.

This market research report on the energy storage market in China 2018-2022 also provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook during the forecast period. Technavio classifies an emerging trend as a major factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

In this report, Technavio highlights the decline in Li-ion battery price as one of the key emerging trends in the energy storage market in China:

Energy storage market in China: Decline in Li-ion battery price

The market for Li-ion batteries has been gaining traction and is witnessing rapid growth. This led to a decline in the demand for lead-acid batteries. The main factor that differentiates Li-ion batteries from lead-acid batteries is their price. Li-ion batteries cost more than lead-acid batteries. However, leading manufacturers of Li-ion batteries are working on technological advances and are trying to reduce the price of Li-ion batteries.

“The prices of Li-ion batteries are expected to reduce further during the forecast period. Also, companies are developing Li-ion batteries by keeping specific industrial and utility applications in mind. The declining prices of Li-ion battery will have a favorable impact on the market, increasing its utilization in the energy storage applications,” says a senior analyst at Technavio for research on human machine interface.

Energy storage market in China: Segmentation analysis

This market research report segments the energy storage market in China by application (behind the meter and grid integration).

Behind the meter segment held the largest market share in 2017, accounting for nearly 54% of the market. This application segment is expected to dominate the global market throughout the forecast period.

Elon Musk sparked a competition for the world’s biggest battery.

Ever since Tesla completed the 129-megawatt-hour Hornsdale Power Reserve battery plant after Musk’s high-profile Twitter bet, others have been looking to beat it.

This summer, for instance, saw two “world’s biggest battery” announcements coming out within days of each other. Given different commissioning dates, both might actually claim the prize for a while. But which country will ultimately end up with the biggest battery?

Here is a rundown of the top contenders, based on announcements made to date.

South Korea

LS Industrial Systems (LSIS) and Macquarie Capital Korea have won the contract to build and operate a 175-megawatt-hour battery storage system across five sites owned by SeAH, a steel conglomerate, LSIS announced in July.

LSIS did not give a commissioning date for the energy storage project but said it would be used to save cheap nighttime electricity for use in the daytime, creating savings of around KRW 130 billion (USD $116 million) over 15 years.

United Kingdom

The U.K. bagged a new national record for battery size in July with the opening of Stocking Pelham, a 50-megawatt-hour facility containing 150,000 lithium-ion cells.

However, the SMA Sunbelt Energy-owned installation could be dwarfed if plans for a 350-megawatt-hour battery system move forward in Graveney, near Kent in southeast England.

The battery is due to serve a 300-megawatt solar plant proposed by Hive Energy and Wirsol Energy. But both projects face significant opposition from campaigners concerned about their impact on nearby marshland ecosystems.

Australia

Despite worries that Hornsdale may have killed the business case for other big batteries in the market, Australia seems keen to stay at the forefront of massive battery development.

In March, GTM revealed that a British businessman, Sanjeev Gupta, plans to build a 120-megawatt, 140-megawatt-hour battery complex in the same region where Tesla completed its Hornsdale plant late last year.

And in May, Reuters reported that a consortium including JERA of Japan, Australian developer Lyon Group and battery provider Fluence was planning to develop a 400-megawatt-hour storage system in South Australia. Construction could begin “within months,” Reuters said.

USTDA Tweet reveals Vietnam feasibility study