Dynamics and opportunities of stationary batteries

As renewable energies are booming, the global demand in BESS has accelerated. Electricity storage has become a major and strategic issue to secure continuous distribution of energy to consumers. Batteries offer a solution to offset the fluctuations of renewable energy sources, therefore enhancing grid flexibility and stability, and contributing to a more resilient and sustainable energy mix. 

Stationary batteries have applications beyond the electrical network. They can be utilized in residential, commercial, and industrial settings, enabling local energy storage, and promoting energy independence. There is still room for innovation, in terms of durability, cost, efficiency… Innovation paves the way for new applications and further progress in all sectors. 

Stationary batteries offer a wide variety of use cases that meet the diverse needs of various industrial and residential sectors: 

• Backup power: most common use case due to the priority given to managing system failures (all sectors).
• Utilities sector: strong potential for stationary battery equipment for a wide variety of use cases:
  • Ancillary services for transmission and distribution networks;
  • Management of the intermittency of renewable energies as well as support for conventional energy production;
  • Support for micro-grids and off-grid systems.

• The recent growth in the number of storage system projects is explained by the easing of legislation: several countries have launched projects with greater power / storage capacity (the United Kingdom, for example), with shorter and less complex planning and permitting procedures. 
• Apart from the United States (see the IRA), few financial mechanisms support the deployment of batteries. Most consist of the allocation of public funds to projects at the exploration stage.
• The development of the IoT in homes, coupled with attractive electricity market prices, have enabled operators of renewable energy systems with storage, to structure flexible tariffs both for Injection and energy consumption. In this context, domestic battery installations have increased sharply.
• An important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) aims to support R&D in the European priority sector of batteries by 2031:
  • 7 countries;
  • €3.2 billion in public funds and €5 billion (expected) in private funds.
• The EU prohibits DSOS and TSOs from owning, developing, managing or operating energy storage facilities unless no third parties are willing to invest. In this case, they may own storage facilities for the sole purpose of ensuring network security.

Several countries have already set ambitious targets for BESS installations in the next decade as depicted in the following table: