Is 2014 the year of battery storage?  

 

A report from RenewEconomy suggests that small-scale battery storage could get a massive boost on the back of improved affordability in 2014. Until this point connecting rooftop solar systems to battery storage has been a costly affair and isn’t seen as a reasonable option for those looking to improve their return on investment.

With small-scale solar installations on the uptake, Australia having reached 3 GW of small-scale systems across 2 million installations, the high demand for solar panels has allowed manufacturers to benefit from an economy of scale. Improving affordability of solar panels encourages further adoption of the technology and analysts are looking to the next product in the field that will flow in to favour with consumers.

Currently, solar power systems offer best return on investment when the energy generated by the system is utilised during daylight hours. Homeowners that work during business hours may struggle to harness their solar energy, making the ability to capture the electricity in batteries for use later in the evening an attractive prospect.

“We will have a significant cost decrease,” says Dirk Uwe Sauer from Aachen University’s Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems group in Germany. Sauer predicts that economies of scale for lithium ion and lead acid batteries will cut costs by one-half to two-thirds. A main contributing factor to such a drastic price reduction is a dramatic increase in battery production.

One industry already churning our electric storage batteries is the automobile industry. Similar production techniques could be used to manufacture batteries suitable for capturing energy from home solar systems. Sauer claims that a plant producing in the order of 5 million starter batteries a year could easily supply 500,000 10kWh residential storage systems annually. (A 10 kWh battery could reach capacity from a system as little as 2.5 kW considering the average four to five hours of peak solar generation throughout the day.)

As battery technology crosses the threshold of affordability we will not hesitate to bring this fantastic opportunity to market for our customers.