Keep your eyes on the lithium-ion battery market – that’s the verdict of Cleantech industry analyst Pike Research.
According to its forecast, of the 11 competing energy storage technologies it analysed, lithium-ion batteries will be the fastest growing category for the Stationary Utility Energy Storage sector with growth predicted to reach $1.1billion worldwide by 2018.
It believes that the revenue from lithium-ion batteries could represent 26 per cent of the $4.1billion global stationary energy storage business by 2018 ahead of other technologies including sodium sulphur batteries and compressed air energy storage. Meanwhile, high-power technologies such as flywheels and supercapacitors will only ascertain niche status.
According to Pike, the industry is currently lacking a technology provider that could serve a multi-billion dollar market – but lithium-ion battery technology developers may be able to plug the gap. It is expected that the technology will receive an “unprecedented” wave of government and capital-led investment with many applications focused on the transportation sector. An “explosion in demand” is described as the plausible scenario, if utilities are able to address the energy storage problem.
The study is entitled “Energy Storage Technology Markets” and analyses the key technology categories, which include advanced batteries, pumped hydro, compressed air, flow batteries and frequency regulation for utility-scale applications. It also provides detailed market forecasts.
