Approximately 1 100 German solar PV system owners have received approval for 30 MW of energy storage under a scheme launched in May 2013, according to a report by analysts IHS.
Another 4 800 applications are being considered, says IHS. The company predicts that the adoption of energy storage in Germany will continue to expand in 2014 due to both the subsidy and falling costs.
“As earlier predicted by IHS, German energy storage subsidy is forecast to kick-start the adoption of solar PV energy storage systems in a similar way as its feed-in tariff system ignited the PV industry eight years ago,” said IHS research manager Sam Wilkinson.
IHS notes that similar subsidies for lithium-ion storage systems for residential applications are in place in Japan, and that California has implemented subsidies for systems up to 3 MW in size.
With the impact of these subsidies and cost reductions, IHS predicts that grid-connected energy storage will be a US$9bn market in 2017.
