1. Market Size
In 2019, global operational energy storage project capacity (including physical energy storage, electrochemical energy storage, and molten salt thermal storage) totaled 183.1GW, an increase of 1.2% compared to the previous year. China’s operational energy storage project capacity totaled 32.3GW, or 17.6% of the global total, an increase of 3.2% compared to the previous year. Of this capacity, newly operational electrochemical energy storage comprised 519MW/855MWh. Overall, energy storage project capacity experienced a slowdown in growth in 2019 as the industry entered a rational adjustment period. Note: the data in this report comprises rough statistics. Final statistics will be released in CNESA’s Energy Storage Industry White Paper 2020 later this year.
Graph 1: global total operational energy storage project capacity (MW)
Graph 2: China’s total operational energy storage project capacity (MW)
2. Market Developments
In the fourth quarter global market of 2019, “solar + storage” applications remained one of the leading trends. Due to differences in resource conditions, energy structure, market environments, and other factors, the motivations for developing “solar + storage” projects have varied across countries, as have project characteristics. In the second and third quarters of 2019, South Korea experienced five new fires at energy storage stations. Investigations revealed the cause of the fire to be potential problems in battery cells. These new accidents once again cast a shadow on the Korean energy storage industry. 2019 also saw an increase in energy storage financing, with total financial volume reaching 1.7 billion USD, an increase of 103% compared to the previous year. However, fourth quarter 2019 saw a decrease in new funding, with a total financial volume of 126 million USD, a decrease of 39% compared to the third quarter. European energy storage companies and project assets became a focus of investments in 2019.
Much like global trends, in China, “solar+storage” applications were among the most active. Some project examples include multiple molten salt energy storage projects brought online at the years’ end, Xinjiang’s first operational grid-side solar+storage demonstration project, and the construction of multiple solar+storage+charging projects across the country. In addition, China saw construction begin on the first grid-side energy storage project that is not only invested and constructed by independent market entities, but will also participate in market-oriented operations. This project will explore a new model of operations for future grid-side energy storage projects. China also saw the approval of the first domestic financial product which specifically supports energy storage. The total funding amount of 750 million USD should help alleviate some of the financial difficulties within the industry and boost development.
3. About this Report
CNESA Research customers can access the full version of the CNESA Global Energy Storage Market Analysis – 2019.Q4 by visiting the ESResearch website.
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