Greentech Lead America: The total number of energy
storage projects worldwide – including announced, funded, under construction, and
operating facilities– reached 714 in the last quarter of 2012, according to a
recent report from Pike Research.
Two factors are influencing that expansion: first, demand
for energy storage is increasing as utilities learn more about energy storage
technologies and become less risk averse, and second, as the economic outlook
brightens, companies are more willing to invest the capital frequently required
for energy storage.
“Various governments’ strategies to expand energy storage
are beginning to yield significant dividends in the form of expanded project
count and capacity,” says research analyst Anissa Dehamna. “Looking back, we
can see that there was a considerable diversification of the technology mix
during 2010.”
“Both private investment and government spending
contributed to this diversification. For example, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) came into effect in February 2009, and the U.S.
government disbursed these funds throughout the following year,” Dehamna added.
Traditional pumped storage still leads the market in
terms of megawatts installed (with 10,359 MW from 2007 to 2012), according to
the report, and will continue to be a strong presence in terms of new
installations for at least the near future. These installations require a large
amount of land area and have significant capital costs associated with them.
As these economically attractive sites for traditional
pumped storage become exhausted over the longer term, new technologies –
including flow batteries and lithium-ion batteries – are expected to fill the
gap in storage needs, the report said.