Govt support boosts growth of German PV storage market - IHS

Sep 3, 2013 - The state subsidy Germany started to offer for photovoltaic (PV) energy storage from May this year is already having an impact on the sector market, US info services company IHS said in a recent report.

The authorities have approved the applications of 1,100 owners of PV systems with a total capacity of 30 MW so far, IHS said. Another 4,800 applications are currently under review.

The new subsidy combined with falling prices are likely to boost the number of energy storage devices in use in 2014, IHS estimated.

A storage device would allow PV system owners to raise their consumption from own power resource to a rate between 30% and 60%, according to IHS analyst Sam Wilkinson. This is an important plus, since the German Solar Industry Association BSW-Solar has estimated that the expenses for power from the grid are two times higher than feed-in tariffs.

Other state support programmes for solar power storage have been launched in Japan and California, IHS said.

The subsidies and the cost cuts are expected to fuel the market for grid-connected energy storage and by 2017 its volume could reach USD 9 billion (EUR 6.83bn), IHS forecast.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.759)

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