Shine On Policycast
Shine On Policycast is a podcast presented by SolarPower Europe. In these episodes, we bring you EU policy updates relevant to solar, in under 20 minutes.
Our host, Bethany Meban, Head of Press and Policy Communications at SolarPower Europe, interviews different voices from our team of policy and market intelligence experts. The podcast is produced by Lily Murdoch, Digital Communications Advisor at SolarPower Europe
Who are we? SolarPower Europe is the award-winning link between policymakers and the solar PV value chain. We represent over 300 companies and organisations from the solar value chain, and our mission is to ensure solar becomes Europe’s leading energy source by 2030.
Shine On Policycast
BONUS EPISODE: 5 numbers in 5 minutes | EU Market Outlook for Battery Storage 2024
Catch up on the latest in Europe's battery storage market with this bonus episode of Shine On Policycast! In just 5 minutes, Antonio Arruebo, Junior Market Analyst at SolarPower Europe, shares five key numbers from the EU Market Outlook for Battery Storage, highlighting the most important trends and data driving the industry. Perfect for solar enthusiasts, policy makers, and anyone interested in renewable energy updates!
Welcome to this bonus episode of Shine On policycast, where we share five numbers in five minutes or less to update you about the solar market in Europe. I'm Bethany and today I'm joined by Antonio Arruebo, our market analyst at SolarPower Europe, covering storage. So, hi, Antonio, welcome. Thank you very much for the invitation. So this year we launched another edition of our EU Market Outlook on battery storage, which is a critical topic for solar and for renewables in general. Batteries and storage are really integral to the system and the ability for us to add more solar and more renewables to the energy system. So we've got plenty to say on the topic, but the challenge now for you, Antonio, is in five minutes to give us five key numbers from this report and tell us a little bit about the battery market in Europe. So, three, two, one, and you're off. Lovely. Let's get started. So, the first key number that I want to mention is meant to set the stage for the following numbers. And that's essentially the total operating battery storage fleet at the end of 2023 in Europe, and that's 36 GWh Europe for us, we were accounting for the European Union, Switzerland and the United kingdom. And these 36 GWh includes the three segments of battery storage, which is residential systems, up to 20 kilowatt hours, commercial and industrial systems, which are from 21 kilowatt hours to a megawatt hour, and then utility scale, grid scale, large scale, bigger batteries, which are above a megawatt hour. And this gigawatt hour metric is essentially the storage capacity of a battery asset. And it translates into the amount of power that the system can charge and discharge at any given moment. And for how long can it sustain it? Is it one hour, is it two hours, three hours or even more? So as the first key number to set the stage and the context, Then if we go into the breakdown of installations, more than 60% of the battery installations has happened in the residential segment. And this is truly fascinating. It's a really cool figure because people tend to believe that the energy transition is happening at the large scale. But for the battery revolution, it happened way earlier at the small scale level and at the height of the energy crisis. So truly, families were driving the energy transition at times of crisis, which is truly astonishing. And that's the first reason why this battery revolution happened over the last two years. Secondly, it's the existence of support schemes in key countries like Italy or Austria. And lastly, the massive decline in battery prices and the wide availability of products over the last two years. So there was a huge demand, but also supply was there to meet that demand. Then thirdly, going into the countries, Germany, which has been the undisputed leader for the last decade, has installed more than a third of the total capacity by the end of 2023. And Germany, that's also a country that is heavily tilted towards the residential segment. And it has the largest residential and household segment in Europe and probably in the world, which is truly remarkable. And essentially the biggest driver in Germany was the drive to become self sufficient. As I said, during the energy crisis, households were looking to shield themselves against high electricity prices. And as I said, the products were there and it was relatively easy to instal to make these installations. So you can become, you can achieve this autonomy from the grid. And yeah, I think it's really cool, but the dynamics are changing. But you'll have to cheque the report. If you want to know more, cheque it next year. Okay, so the fourth key figure, also talking about countries, and this is also a number that I consider that it's truly remarkable and really astounding, is that in the Czech Republic for the past two years, nine out of 10 residential PV systems have been attached with a battery storage unit. That means that for the past two years the country has had an attachment rate of residential PV to battery storage of more than 90%, which is really cool. And it's essentially because the government introduced an investment grant scheme that was incentivizing not only the adoption of the PV system and the battery storage, but also heat pumps and EV chargers. And this essentially also means that families were able to become self sufficient. So the government was giving them the financial means to do that. But also it's driving electrification for heating and transport at the household level even faster. And the last loads of time for. Your last last number. So the last key figure, it's looking forward. An essential part of our reports is the five year outlook. And we divide it into the low, medium and high scenario. And I'm going to focus this time on the medium scenario which is accounting for the existing market and policy conditions extrapolated into the future until 2028. And because of the main factors that you were mentioning of the centrality of the technology for the energy transition to bring in flexibility and the stability, especially at the short term, to allow the integration of solar and wind into the energy system, your time is running essentially the operating battery stress rate will grow sevenfold from 36 gigabyte hours to 260 gigawatt hours by 2028. Perfect last grains of sand go through the hourglass. Congrats, Antonio, for those five figures in five minutes. So 36 gigawatt hours. It's the total fleet end of 2023. 60% of that fleet are at the residential level. A third of that fleet is in Germany. In the Czech Republic, 90% of solar systems in the last couple of years have come with storage attached. And we're expecting the fleet to grow by seven times to 260 gigawatt hours by 2028. Cool. And it's easier for me. I've got them written down in front of me. But thanks so much, Antonio, for your insights. And as I say, we've got a great report on our website, so everybody should go check that out. Yeah, my pleasure. Thank.