Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has released its Global Energy Storage Outlook report, predicting that the global market for grid-scale and small batteries, excluding electric vehicle batteries, will attract at least $262 billion of capital investment by 2030, supporting an additional 999 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of capacity. BNEF expects over half of the new capacity additions to be in the United States and China, with US emissions and renewables targets driving growth in the US, and China targeting to host 30 gigawatts (GW) of batteries by 2025 with strict funding requirements. BNEF also identifies the UK, Germany, Australia, India, and Japan as major energy storage markets by 2030, with the potential for these markets to outpace the US and China at the smaller-scale level, particularly for residential and commercial properties.
Of the new capacity forecasts, BNEF estimates that 55% will be developed specifically to facilitate the transition away from fossil fuels towards renewables. BNEF’s revised forecasts reflect updated climate and energy policies, targeted incentives, and declining technology costs. The report covers various battery chemistries, including lithium-ion, nickel-manganese-cobalt, sodium-ion, and lithium-iron-phosphate. Lithium-iron-phosphate is expected to be the most popular option through at least 2030. BNEF also predicts that batteries will dominate the overall storage market until at least 2030, despite the emergence of non-battery options like compressed air storage and thermal storage.
During COP26, the Long Duration Energy Storage Council was launched by 25 organizations, aiming to mobilize $3 trillion of investment in long-duration energy storage technologies by 2040. This investment could support the installation capacity of 1.5 terawatts (TW) to 2.5 TW.
