The cumulative capacity of battery storage project for which a planning application has been made has soared from 6.9GW a year ago to more than 10.5GW today. This is up from just 2MW in 2012.
The new statistics from RenewableUK show the storage market is growing rapidly, with 150 firms entering the sector over the last 12 months to bring the total to 450.
The average project size has only increased slightly over the same period, rising by 1MW to 28MW. But RenewableUK said both the size and number of projects is expected to continue rising after the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy agreed earlier this year to amend planning rules which deterred developments above 50MW.
One of the companies with the largest portfolios is Pivot Power, which plans to build a £1.6 billion network of batteries and EV charging stations and last month was acquired by EDF Energy from an undisclosed amount.
RenewableUK director of future electricity systems Barnaby Wharton said: “As we build the net-zero energy system of the future based on renewables, we’re changing the way we manage the entire network, using a wide variety of extraordinarily innovative storage technologies. The pace of change in the industry is hugely exciting.
“Energy storage has reached a tipping point with major companies entering this new market, providing new services to guarantee the security our energy supplies and maximising the amount of power available, providing massive benefits to consumers”.
Meanwhile, BNEF has released its annual battery price survey which found that average prices have fallen by 13 per cent when compared to 2018 to $156/kWh. “Factory costs are falling thanks to improvements in manufacturing equipment and increased energy density at the cathode and cell level,” said its head of energy storage, Logan Goldie-Scot.
The company expects prices to approach $100/kWh – widely seen as the tipping point when electric vehicles (EVs) will reach cost-parity with their petrol and diesel equivalents – by 2023 and start falling below that level the following year as cumulate demand surpasses 4TWh.
It said efforts by major automakers to simplify and standardise cell and pack designs will help to drive continued cost reductions for EVs.