According to a calculation by the German Solar Industry Association (BSW), around 10,000 companies currently use their own electricity storage systems. The main area of application is usually to be able to use self-generated PV electricity when the sun is not shining. This means an increase of 3,900 storage units in 2022. According to information from RWTH Aachen University, the capacity of large-scale storage systems increased by 33% to 1 gigawatt in the last quarter of 2022 alone.
Most companies rely on solar batteries
Solar batteries account for the majority of the expansion of PV electricity storage capacities in Germany. A total of 2,750 companies opted for this type of electricity storage last year. The remaining 1,150 relied on other energy storage systems, such as hydrogen storage, pumped storage power plants, power-to-heat systems, power-to-gas systems, compressed air storage, superconducting magnetic energy storage or other storage systems.
PV electricity storage capacities are used to reduce costs
Experts blame the high growth in energy storage systems on the general electricity price trend, the rise in electromobility and the high demand for CO₂-free products and services. According to a survey by the BVES Federal Association of Energy Storage Systems e.V. 53 percent of companies use their electricity storage systems to reduce their electricity costs, 29 percent for their electric company fleet and 20 percent for Peak Shaving.
Vehicle-to-grid and other technologies increase PV electricity storage capacities
No wonder, as battery storage systems, which are increasingly being installed directly in Charging stations for flexibility and security of supply for a company's entire electricity system. In any case, PV electricity storage capacities could increase rapidly over the next few years thanks to bidirectional charging. The batteries of electric cars, which are already available anyway, will serve as mobile and decentralized energy storage systems. Vehicle to Grid (V2G) is the name of this technology, which is currently being expanded and promoted.