Antinuclear

The 130-page report prepared by AECOM predicts a “mega-shift” to energy storage adoption, driven by demand – from both the supply side, as networks work to adapt to increasing distributed and renewable energy capacity, and from consumers wishing to store their solar energy – and by the rapidly changing economic proposition; a proposition, the report says, that will see the costs of lithium-ion batteries fall by 60 per cent in less than five years, and by 40 per cent for flow batteries.

“The trend of reducing costs for battery technologies such as lithium-ion and flow battery technologies suggests that there will be a dramatic shift towards these technologies in the next one to two decades,” the report says.

But it stresses that before moving to a market-led roll-out in Australia, we will need to develop demonstration project experience, to inform  key stakeholders including consumers, local communities, technology suppliers, financiers, existing electricity asset owners, regulators, retailers and policymakers…….

The report stresses that the risks and opportunities of an energy storage boom would be more complex than for solar PV, due to the multitude of applications and value streams, greater safety risks, and the continued growth of rooftop solar.

The next biggest potential market in Australia for energy storage – as a value proposition – would be the off-grid market, the report finds.

“Off-grid electricity is Australia’s most expensive electricity due to the underlying high gas and diesel prices in remote areas,” it notes.

“As such, the business case for renewables as a means to offset fuel use is strong. Similarly, in order to enable higher penetrations of renewables, energy storage can be utilised to manage the intermittent nature of wind or solar generation.”

The report notes that AECOM has previously forecast that the renewable off-grid market potential could grow to over 200MW in the short to medium term and over 1GW in the longer term.

Of course, ARENA has already been active in supporting off-grid solar plus storage applications, including the DeGrussa mine project in WA – Australia’s largest solar + storage project to date; ahybrid solar PV, wind and battery storage project in South Australia’s Coober Pedy; and a a 1MW portable solar-hybrid plant, designed by construction company Laing O’Rourke in Queensland………….

At this stage, the main barriers to uptake of energy storage in Australia are listed in the report as financial, technical and regulatory – currently, it notes, there are no subsidies or other incentives for wide-spread deployment of battery storage; as well as the uncertainty that has dogged the Australian clean energy and technology market under the Abbott government.

The report recommends that ARENA continue to work with industry participants including technology suppliers, electricity networks and power retailers to prepare the market for a future boom, by supporting the demonstration and establishment of sustainable market structures and incentives.

“By supporting the development of an efficient market for energy storage, ARENA will facilitate additional supply of renewable energy by addressing intermittency and power quality challenges that could otherwise stall growth in the market,” the report says. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/energy-storage-megashift-ahead-battery-costs-set-to-fall-60-by-2020-2020