by Shane Henson — March 4, 2013—According to a new report from Pike Research, a division of Navigant Consulting’s global Energy Practice that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets, the total capacity of commercial building energy storage systems will grow from about 900 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2013 to more than 5,000 MWh in 2022.
The market for energy storage in commercial buildings includes one mature segment—energy storage systems for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems—as well as two relatively nascent segments: electrical energy storage (EES) systems and thermal energy storage (TES) systems. In certain cities and regions where local utilities and governments allow building owners to monetize the value stream of peak shifting, these technologies are likely to spread rapidly, explains Pike Research.
“The future growth of TES and EES systems is primarily reliant on expectations of regulatory changes,” adds senior research analyst Sam Jaffe. “If there is a sea-change in global electricity regulation that enables customers to realize the value of energy storage, then the market is likely to expand rapidly. We expect that some utility regions will alter regulations while others will not, leading to localized hotspots of growth surrounded by deserts of inaction.”
Another factor in the growth of commercial energy storage will be reductions in the cost of systems. This will be primarily driven by lower battery costs (spurred more by the transportation market demand for batteries than by the stationary storage market), but also by reductions in the prices of other parts that go into the balance of the system, such as battery management systems and two-way power inverters, says Pike Research.
The report, Energy Storage in Commercial Buildings, analyzes the global market opportunity for commercial building energy storage across all three key segments: UPS energy storage systems, electrical energy storage systems, and thermal energy storage systems. The report also provides a comprehensive assessment of the demand drivers, business models, policy factors, and technology issues associated with the dynamic commercial building energy storage space. Key industry players are profiled in depth, and worldwide revenue and capacity forecasts, segmented by application and region, extend through 2022.
