The global market for grid-connected residential solar PV installations and energy storage is predicted to increase from around 90 MW to beyond 900MW by 2018, according forecasts by US research company IHS Technology.
Energy Storage in PV Report 2014 identifies the strongest markets for self-consuming electricity generated by residential PV systems include Australia, Germany and the UK. More than 40 per cent of the residential solar storage market in 2018 will be accounted for by the these three countries, despite representing only 20 per cent of all solar installations, according to IHS.
The report also anticipates the largest residential solar energy storage market will be in Japan, holding around 200 MW of capacity. Despite being offered generous PV incentives that make solar self-consumption unattractive, Japanese residents are also being offered subsidies to promote the adoption of Li-ion batteries in homes and businesses, as reported by Energy Business News.
Although global predictions for the adoption of energy storage in small PV systems was buoyant in recent years, several issues have marred expectations including reduced government incentives and the price of integrating batteries into PV systems.
Despite these factors, IHS predicts improvements will be seen next year due to a reduction in Li-ion battery prices by 15 per cent, and a growth in the residential PV market – the end result being a predicted 90 per cent expansion in residential PV energy storage in 2015.
The report also shows that a growing desire to become independent from the grid will also assist growth in the residential PV storage market.
