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Storage: Investment in CRES systems to hit $4.2 billion through 2022

Pike Research has announced that investments in community and residential energy storage (CRES) systems will increase to more than US$4 billion in the next decade.

Total global installed capacity for CRES systems will reach 780 MW by 2022.

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According to the report by the U.S. company, total global installed capacity for CRES systems will reach 780 megawatts (MW) by 2022. This is calculated as an annual market value of $872 million. Cumulative investment over the same period will be $4.2 billion, as the analysts at Pike Research conclude.

The strong upcoming demand for energy storage is predicted thanks to the increase in the power generated from intermittent energy sources like solar power coming online. Additionally, the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as the switch to smarter grids have fueled the need for smarter storage solutions. With increasing storage technologies arriving on the market, the global energy storage market is set to grow.

Pike Research’s report, "Community and Residential Energy Storage" assesses the market opportunity for battery-based energy storage systems in community and residential deployments.

"Community and residential storage is one of the newest and least understood application areas for energy storage systems," says research analyst Anissa Dehamna. "As yet, the market is still in the technical demonstration phase, and for the most part, vendors are still in the process of developing products specifically for community and residential applications. The implication for the CRES market is that purpose-built technologies are not likely to be commercialized in the next two years."

Utilities, vendors and governments are currently testing CRES systems for enabling smoother peaks in electricity demand, enabling voltage support and frequency regulation, and providing islanding capabilities. Pike Research says that the leading technology in the CRES sector in the coming decade will be lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries. This technology currently leads in terms of utility demonstration projects. Advanced flow batteries and lead-acid battery technologies are in the development phases.

To address the growing need for energy storage solutions, Solarpraxis will hold its first "Energy Storage – Summit for the Storage of Renewable Energies" conference, in Düsseldorf this March 13 and 14.