If 2014 was a mostly behind-the-scenes series of Eureka moments and 2015 was the year energy storage started to go mainstream, where does it go from here?

The obvious answer is out of the factories and into grids, micro-grids, businesses and houses the world over. It will happen at a different pace in different regions, and each market will have its own drivers – and barriers – to adoption. Here are seven distinctive takes on what the industry is predicting – and hoping for – in 2016 and beyond.

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BYD, DNV GL, Tesla, Schneider Electric and SMA Solar are among the names confirmed to attend Solar Media’s Energy Storage 100, a networking event in London celebrating the nascent energy storage industry.

Energy Storage 100 is an evening reception to follow the close of the Energy Storage Summit which takes place on 28 April during the day at Twickenham, England’s national rugby stadium. Taking advantage of its illustrious location, ES100 will be held overlooking the stadium’s pitch.

Former professional rugby player, actor and noted after-dinner speaker Martin Bayfield will be the evening’s host. Keen Harry Potter fans may recognise Bayfield’s name – he was stunt double to the actor Robbie Coltrane who played Harry’s mentor, Hagrid, in the film adaptations of the books.

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AES Philippines Power Partners Co. Ltd. Plans to build energy storage facilities across the country which will store up to 250MW of power. They are currently still studying potential locations for the storage facilities, and are currently looking at locations across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

AES had another project of a 40 MW battery storage project in Kabankalan that was supposed to have been ready by March this year but is still awaiting the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines to provide guidance on the ancillary service procurement agreement.

According to Neeraj Bhat, AES Philippines managing director, the most important factor for their energy storage project to be put into reality requires help from government regulators to push it forward, as well as corporation from the grid operators.

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The future market for stationary energy storage systems (ESS) is one of the most heavily discussed topics in the power industry today. Significant growth is expected in particular for stationary battery systems, which accounted for only 2GWh globally in 2015 but is expected to grow to 33GWh by the end of the decade.

One of the key drivers – and prerequisites – of this growth is a significant cost decrease and the resulting competitiveness of energy storage systems compared to traditional, non-storage solutions. At the same time, an increasing number of ESS technologies has become available for commercial application in a variety of use cases, each with a different cost of energy storage that needs to be compared thoroughly.

But what does “cost of energy storage” really mean?

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While an obvious boon for the U.S. solar market, the recent extension of the federal Investment Tax Credit may also offer a promising boost to the U.S. energy storage market. According to the recently released U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, GTM Research expects an additional half a gigawatt of storage paired with renewables to come on-line between 2016 and 2020, compared to a scenario with no tax credit extension.

Though storage alone doesn’t qualify for the ITC, if installed with solar PV or wind, energy storage systems historically have been able to claim tax credits, as long as they meet certain requirements. As such, the 30 percent tax credit will create a significant opportunity for energy storage suppliers that are active in the U.S. market.

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