Europe is expected to install 3,000 MWh of energy storage capacity in 2021, according to a new report from the European Association for Storage of Energy.
Teaming up with Delta-EE, the association found that the future is strong for the energy storage market in Europe, despite some slow down caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s because there’s been a big drive for sustainability over the past year, with nations across Europe putting a big emphasis on tackling the climate crisis.
Thanks to this sustainability drive, the report found that the energy storage market in Europe should deploy 3,000 MWh of installed capacity this year, almost double the annual storage deployments seen in 2020. That will give Europe a total of 8 GWh of cumulative installed capacity.
The report highlights the strong performance of the front-of-meter market across Europe in 2020, with new balancing and ancillary services in countries such as Italy, the UK and the Nordic region supporting demand for grid-level storage projects of increasing duration.
Behind the meter however, the residential and commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors felt the impact of the pandemic much harder, with onsite installations inhibited by lockdowns. The report expects these sectors to recover as the pandemic abates, but also that they will be boosted by COVID recovery. The €1.8 trillion EU COVID-19 Recovery Plan expects to deliver significant public investment into clean energy technologies, including storage. The European Parliament has called on the Commission to develop a new comprehensive EU energy storage strategy which could create new market incentives and help accelerate recovery.
Patrick Clerens, EASE Secretary General, commented, “The excellent 2021 storage outlook is a testament to the importance of a supportive policy and market framework for storage: the implementation of the Clean Energy Package is opening up new markets around Europe and improving the business case for storage. Policymakers’ strong commitment to the EU Green Deal and a ‘green’ COVID-19 recovery is hugely promising for the storage sector.”
Jon Ferris, Head of Energy Storage and Flexibility at Delta-EE, added, “Last year’s report showed stalled market growth, particularly for the front-of-meter sector, so the fact that it rebounded in the midst of the pandemic is remarkable. We are anticipating growth in the sector will accelerate as improved access to markets, particularly for behind-the-meter storage, and the increasing ability for batteries to stack value from multiple markets, add to government support from ‘green recovery’ packages.”