BYD Co Ltd (OTCPK:OTCPK:BYDDF) is looking to seize energy storage business opportunities around the world. Recent contract wins in both residential and commercial emphasize the company’s worldwide reach and competitive position. Many other companies, including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), are optimistic about the business as well. BYD may have the competitive advantage, though. Its founder and chairman has very ambitious targets for future growth.

North America

Energy storage systems are benefiting everywhere from a combination of rapidly falling costs, improved capability and greater industry expertise. Many Governments are looking to subsidize the business short-term. Consumer interest is showing strong levels. The World Bank has predicted that 378.1GW of solar and wind generating capacity will come on-stream between 2017 and 2022. They see the main barrier as up-front cost. However costs are falling across the board. Thus payback times are shortening. The affluent USA did lead in such early applications, but may now fall behind the rest of the world.

Energy storage systems are still increasing in the USA. It is estimated that 260 MW was installed last year. This has been encouraged by a decline in net metering. This makes it now more viable for the consumer to store energy. Commercially the market will be hampered by the lack of clear direction and policy initiatives from the Federal Government. Individual States very much have individual policies.

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Annette Verschuren, Chair and CEO at NRStor Inc., said, “This facility is a major milestone in the development and expansion of the Canadian energy storage market. The facility allows NRStor C&I to accelerate its deployment of BTM commercial, industrial, and institutional energy storage solutions. Incorporating long term flexible and sustainable solutions is our mission and we are delighted to be working with SUSI Partners in growing this sector.”

The SUSI Energy Storage Infrastructure Fund finances storage projects in the areas of spectrum regulation, load management and off-grid solutions with a focus on the OECD area.

Asif Rafique, Managing Director of Energy Storage at SUSI Partners, states: “Our agreement with NRStor C&I represents another important step for the SESF and the wider energy storage market. We are delighted to complete this deal with NRStor’s market-leading team and are looking forward to realizing further investments in the near term.”

Otto von Troschke, CIO and co-founder of SUSI Partners, pointed out his company “has a solid track record of energy efficiency projects with commercial and industrial customers and is now pleased to tap into this customer segment in the energy storage sector as well. “

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The latest “Energy storage forecast 2016–2030” from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts explosive growth in energy storage over the next 12 years. BNEF says storage will grow in much the same way that solar power grew between 2010 and 2015. Solar power expanded 700% during that time. It sees a six fold increase in energy storage to 305 gigawatt-hours between now and the year 2030. Making that happen will require an investment in excess of $100 billion.

The United States is expected to be responsible for a quarter of the new storage capacity, with the remainder spread among nations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. China, Japan, India, Germany, Australia, South Korea, and the UK will play a major role in the expansion, according to BNEF. “Energy storage, both utility-scale and behind-the-meter, will be a crucial source of flexibility throughout this period and will be essential to integrating increasing levels of renewable energy,” reads a statement from the BNEF staff.

The International Renewable Energy Agency says battery storage worldwide totaled only 1 gigawatt-hour at the beginning of 2017. Its prediction is that there will be 250 gigawatt-hours of storage installed by 2030. Either way, the increase in energy storage should be nothing short of meteoric in the coming decade or so.

One aspect of the latest advisory from BNEF that has gone under-reported is this — BNEF expects fully 50% of that increase in energy storage to take place “behind the meter.” In other words, storage by large commercial actors such as Walmart, Google, Amazon, and other large businesses, combined with residential solutions, will account for more of the new storage capacity as grid-scale storage for utilities.

BNEF says, “Utility-scale storage will be built to provide system-level services in the near term, but aggregating behind-the-meter energy storage becomes a viable alternative as the market for customer-sited storage grows. By 2030, behind-the-meter systems will represent over half of total capacity. These systems can also provide services such as frequency regulation and peaking capacity, on top of the savings they generate for customers.” It expects $30 billion will be invested in residential storage during this expansion phase.

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Swiss institutional investment group SUSI Partners has agreed to finance C$120 million (US$94.56 million) of commercial and industrial (C&I) sector energy storage projects by Canadian project developer/owner NRStor.

Toronto-headquartered NRStor completed one of Canada’s first large-scale grid-connected energy storage systems, a 2MW flywheel system using 10 separate Temporal Power flywheels, in 2014. That appears to be the only completed project in the company’s portfolio as listed on the NRStor website, but in late 2016, the company signed a deal with fellow Canadian company Hydrostor, which delivers advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) from underground caverns, to jointly develop utility-scale energy storage projects across Canada.

Meanwhile SUSI Partners’ SUSI Energy Storage Fund hit energy storage industry headlines when it provided third-party project financing for 12MW of Canadian energy storage projects with developer Convergent Energy and Power. At the time, Florian Mayr of consultancy Apricum, who advised on the deal, said the arrival of an institutional investor such as SUSI in the space spoke volumes about the promise of energy storage as a technology and economic opportunity.

“SUSI Partners has clearly realized the high potential of the energy storage market for its institutional investors seeking attractive risk-adjusted returns in a rapidly growing infrastructure asset class that also contributes to the mitigation of climate change,” Mayr said at the time.

The investment group has earmarked a total of €250 million (US$298.7 million) for investment in energy storage and related areas such as smart microgrids, which SUSI said will be open to investors until early next year. SUSI reached the closing of a €66 million (US$70.4 million) fund in April, garnering investments from pension funds and other institutional investors. 

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StorEn Technology* is developing a new generation of vanadium flow batteries to meet the growing market demand for cost-effective energy storage.

Unlike conventional batteries that store their reactive materials within their cells, vanadium flow batteries are a type of rechargeable battery in which the energy is stored chemically in a liquid electrolyte contained in two tanks.

Stor.En has developed Multigrid™ technology that improves the electrical efficiency of the stack, helping reduce costs for storage solutions for residential, industrial, or utility needs.

The following is an interview with StorEn’s Chief Technology Officer, Angelo D’An

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Filipino firm Kennedy Renewable + Technology Corp has partnered with AC Energy to provide seven school campus buildings in the Island of Tawi-Tawi, south Philippines, with solar-plus-storage systems.

In this remote province, just 30% of the population has access to electricity, with most power sourced from diesel generators and often hit by blackouts.

Such rolling blackouts have negatively affected the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, which is aiming to be a centre for excellence in the areas of fisheries, marine and maritime science and engineering, as well as oceanography.

Kennedy is the main developer, while AC Energy is offering technical and financial support. The two firms equipped the campuses with solar panels, hybrid inverters and batteries, providing not only 141kW capacity to the university but also energy storage capability to help the school deliver uninterrupted education despite the inefficiencies of the local power supply.

Dr. Philip Ella Juico, chairman of Kennedy Renewable + Technology Corp, said: “The successful launch of this project highlights the reality of conglomerates successfully working with small companies that labour under challenging circumstances to promote sustainable development. This installation is a living, although modest testament of how organizations like AC Energy and Kennedy Renewable + Technology Corp. solve real problems of power shortages that affect critical institutions in remote areas. Many more projects like this will help advance the cause of energy derived from sources that are replenished by nature.”

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Tesla has now finished construction work on the 129 megawatt-hour (MWh) energy storage facility that it was contracted to build in South Australia, the government of the region has revealed.

The news means that Tesla has finished construction well before its self-imposed 100-day deadline — which means that Tesla won’t be providing the installation free of charge to South Australia (the promise had been “100 days from contract signature or it is free”). To clarify, that meant within 100 days of the signing of a grid connection agreement (which was signed on September 29th).

The facility reportedly now represents the world’s largest lithium-ion battery energy storage installation — dwarfing most others. The large size was important to help South Australia avoid power supply issues, which have been topics of much news coverage and political rugby ball in recent times.

Reuters provides more context on how quickly Tesla got the job done, and touches on other matters I’m sure readers are interested in: “When the grid connection deal was signed on Sept 29, Tesla was already half way through installing the battery packs. The Tesla Powerpacks have now been fully installed at a wind farm run by France’s Neoen, and testing is set to begin to provide grid security services in South Australia. … The state has yet to say how much it would pay for the battery, which is part of a A$510 million ($390 million) plan that includes diesel-fired generators to help keep the lights on following a string of blackouts over the past 18 months.”

“While others are just talking, we are delivering our energy plan, making South Australia more self-sufficient, and providing back up power and more affordable energy for South Australians this summer,” commented South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill.

While the new energy storage installation will no doubt be helpful in dealing with grid supply over the coming years, there will still be a tight power supply this summer — particularly in South Australia and in Victoria — owing to the recent closure of a large coal-fired power plant. That’s according to Australia’s energy market operator. So, don’t expect that this giant 129 MWh Tesla Powerpack facility gets the region completely out of the woods.

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The growth of energy storage from a complementary but ultimately unnecessary addition to renewable energy projects to a valuable standalone commodity has rocked the energy world and even entrenched fossil fuel-dependent countries like Australia, and new figures from Navigant Research identify over 1,700 energy storage projects around the world.

Clean energy technology research firm Navigant Research published its Energy Storage Tracker 3Q17 report this week in which it identifies more than 1,700 energy storage projects worldwide, well up from the 1,420 energy storage projects in existence identified in the first quarter of this year. The following chart outlines new deployed storage power capacity across global markets year-to-date through to the end of the third-quarter of 2017:

“The global energy storage industry is poised to continue to grow quickly over the next several years, especially in emerging economies,” said Ian McClenny, research analyst with Navigant Research. “With emerging infrastructure becoming increasingly integrated, dynamic, and complex, flexible resources like storage will provide added value to existing and new power generating assets.”

Further, improvements in energy storage technologies, developing regional regulatory and market drivers, and emerging new business models are all poised to drive the growth of the energy storage industry, according to Navigant Research. More than growth in the sector itself, Navigant predicts a growing need for energy storage around the world.

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The energystorageindustry is set to rise dramatically — for those companies that can play the long game. 

Bloomberg New Energy Finance released a report Tuesday that forecasts the global energy storage market will “double six times” from now to 2030, from a meager starting point of less than 5 gigawatt-hours last year, to more than 300 gigawatt-hours and 125 gigawatts of capacity by the end of the next decade. An estimated $103 billion will be invested in energy storage over that time period.

The trajectory for energy storage mirrors the market expansion that solar went through from 2000 to 2015, when the share of solar PV as a percentage of total generation doubled seven times. 

This rapid global growth rate tracks well with the U.S. energy storage market forecast from GTM Research, which projects a twelvefold growth in the U.S. alone between 2016 and 2022, to reach 7.2 gigawatt-hours, or 2.6 gigawatts, of capacity. 

This growth is going to be driven by both cost reductions for batteries and associated systems, and a rising need for more gigawatts of flexibility to manage the ups and downs of an increasingly wind- and solar-powered grid, according to BNEF energy storage analyst and lead report author Yayoi Sekine. “With so much investment going into battery technology, falling costs and with significant addition of wind and solar capacity in all markets, energy storage will play a crucial part in the energy transformation,” she said.

On the cost side, BNEF sees utility-scale battery systems falling from about $700 per kilowatt-hour in 2016 to less than $300 per kilowatt-hour in 2030. That’s in line with other projections that see stationary storage benefiting from investments into the mass manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles.

On the demand side, 70 percent of global capacity through 2030 will be installed in eight countries: the U.S., China, Japan, India, Germany, U.K., Australia and South Korea. The primary driver in each will be managing an increasingly renewable and intermittent energy resource mix.

Earlier this month, BNEF released a report that illustrated how some of the most renewables-rich markets will be pressed to incorporate energy storage at record scale. The report found that “future energy systems in the U.K. and Germany with very high levels of variable renewable generation must be complemented by flexible resources, including energy storage.”

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Vertical integration of supply chain

Titanium electrode supply deal for Primus