Green power storage size to triple by 2030
The share of renewable energy such as wind or solar power is expanding rapidly as the world looks to rein in carbon dioxide emissions, but its output depends on weather patterns, said the study from Boston Consulting Group's BCG Munich office.
Because the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow, far more storage will be needed in future to keep reserve green power ready for undersupply periods.
Power storage is also needed to provide balancing supply when loads on transmission networks vary wildly — due to the inevitable volatility of renewable power fed into them.
"In addition to currently available capacity of around 100 gigawatt GW, there will be a global market potential of 330 GW in various storage technologies up to 2030," an abstract of the BCG study said.
"This necessitates an additional cumulative investment need of 280 billion euros to 2030."
The authors said they believed good financial returns were possible even without subsidies for utilities, raw materials and special equipment suppliers and financial players.
They highlighted opportunities in providing power obtained in low price periods and then released to operators at times that peak prices are paid.
It said that Germany, the United States, China and Japan were discussing storage-related regulation, which could work toward boosting business opportunities.
Related News
Why subsidies for electric cars are a bad idea for Canada
TORONTO - Bad ideas sometimes look better, and sell better, than good ones. Not always, or else Canada wouldn’t be the mostly well-run place that it is. But sometimes politicians embrace a less-than-best policy – because its attractive appearance may make it more likely to win the popularity contest, right now, even though it will fail in the long run.
The most seasoned political advisers know it. Pollsters too. Voters, in contrast, don’t know what they don’t know, which is why bad policy often triumphs. At first glance, the wrong sometimes looks like it must be right, while better and…
