Storage could soon be attractive for UK homeowners - KPMG/REA report

Battery storage could be economic for UK homeowners with existing power generation systems from around 2017, according to a report prepared by KPMG for the UK Renewable Energy Association (REA).

The report, announced today, says that substantial cost reductions have brought forward the expected timeframe for the deployment of storage technologies. According to it, for "early adopter" households that have already installed solar panels supported by a feed-in-tariff (FiT) with deemed exports, it could be an attractive investment to add storage within the next two years.

The study, entitled Development of decentralised energy and storage systems in the UK, also says that as far as grid-scale storage is concerned, projects are already economic in certain circumstances, although barriers to securing funding could remain.

REA hailed the report as "indicating that we could enter an era of continued green growth and domestic decentralised energy production," despite the uncertainty created by the many sudden changes to green policies since the 2015 general election and called on the government to remove regulatory barriers and introduce an energy storage definition in the Energy Bill that is currently being debated in parliament.

"2016 is going to be the breakthrough year for energy storage and the growth of decentralised energy," said REA chief executive Nina Skorupska. "Companies like RES and AES have already announced advanced grid-scale storage projects in this field, and with Tesla and other storage companies entering the UK this year we have a lot to be hopeful about," she also said.

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