German battery capacity up 41% to 1.1 GW by end-2019: BVES

Germany's battery storage capacity has risen 41% on the year to 1.1 GW by the end of 2019 despite a slowdown in the utility-scale segment with the home battery boom expected to continue, lobby group BVES said Friday.

Utility-scale battery capacity increased by 89 MW to 453 MW last year after doubling in the previous two years with a number of older projects expected to boost capacity to 517 MW this year, BVES said in its annual market update with consultancy Team Consult.

Saturation in the balancing market and sharply lower prices in the primary reserve segment after a move to daily auctions from July may only see older projects realized this year, it said.

Falling battery prices and massive grid booster battery project plans by grid operators may boost volumes in the years ahead, it added.

Home battery market booms

Germany's home battery storage market continues to boom with 680 MW online by end-2019 (up from 440 MW end-2018) across 182,000 individual units often installed in combination with a solar roof-top or electric vehicle, BVES said.

Capacity is forecast to reach 930 MW by the end of this year, according to Team Consult's forecast with the trend of falling costs and rising unit capacity intact.

Average household battery systems rose from 3.5 kW to 3.75 kW, it added.

Shell's acquisition of Sonnen last year highlighted the potential with the three leading German home battery developers gaining market share in what the BVES describes as a "professionalization" of the market.

Europe's battery storage market was expected to reach 3.5 GW of installed capacity by end-2019 with the European energy storage association EASE's annual report due later this month after the coronavirus crisis led to the postponement of the Dusseldorf energy storage fair this week.