Consumer Demand is Increasing for the Energy Storage Market

Friday 13 January 2012, Amsterdam

The growing consumer demand for a reliable energy storage option has resulted in a series of inventions in the advanced energy storage market. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the market in advanced batteries, fuel cells, flywheels and ultracapacitors. There has been significant progress in increasing the expected battery life and in developing battery technologies that are capable of effectively powering various digital devices, power tools, battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

A fuel cell is a zero-emission source of power, and the only byproduct of a fuel cell is water. Some fuel cells use natural gas or hydrocarbons as fuel, but even those produce far less emissions than conventional sources. Therefore, fuel cells eliminate or at least vastly reduce the pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, and since they are also quiet in operation, they also reduce noise pollution. The advantages of advanced energy storage devices are significantly increasing consumer demand and the trend is expected to continue in future.


Advanced Battery Industry

One of the key drivers of the advanced battery industry is that it is an environmentally friendly technology with fewer pollution and battery disposal issues than other technologies. The policies and environmental standards given by different regulating authorities help in assessing the advanced battery manufacturers in terms of the environmental hazards associated with conventional batteries. The technological aspects of each advanced battery differ based on different parameters, such as the duration of storage, capacity, energy density, cost, life cycle and others. Advanced batteries are secondary electrochemical energy storage devices and are large in terms of size and energy capacity. They are both technologically advanced and environmentally friendly. The advanced batteries market is expected to increase from $6,500m in 2010 to $20,190m in 2020 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12%.


Lithium Ion Battery Market

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are widely used for powering devices like laptop computers, mobile phones, cameras, electric vehicles, power tools and many others. Li-ion batteries provide high energy densities which enable the electronic devices to be recharged less frequently. Also, Li-ion batteries weigh less when compared to other forms of rechargeable batteries.

With mounting oil supply concerns and environmental pressures, Hydro-electric Vehicles (HEV) and plug-in HEVs (PHEVs) are expected to be the next generation technology for light and heavy-duty vehicles. The Li-ion battery market for hybrid electric vehicles is rapidly emerging with massive potential. Although Li-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles are still in an emerging phase, they are most likely to displace the Nickel-metal Hydride (NiMH) share in the future due to their growing prominence.
NiMH Battery Market

NiMH is a well established and understood technology. This battery chemistry offers a dual advantage of low cost and acceptable performance. HEVs equipped with this battery type have a greater range and offer twice the energy density of lead acid batteries at 80 watt-hours per kilogram (wh/kg). NiMH has achieved economies of scale to reduce the overall battery system cost and is expected to remain a viable option for conventional HEVs.


Fuel Cells Market is in its Nascent Stage of Development

Fuel cells are one of the most promising energy storage technologies and currently attract the highest amount of investor interest among other power supply technologies. Driven by the need to compensate for the ill-effects and inconveniences of lead-acid batteries, stationary fuel cells are largely used for backup power applications. Fuel cells are considered to be low-maintenance, environmentally friendly storage solutions with long life spans for long periods of back-up power. Since the market is in its developmental stage, it is characterized by highly restricted sales volumes, and consequent price falls due to lack of adequate demand. Nevertheless, the potential of fuel cells are being actively explored by the power supply players across the value chain. The global fuel cells market is expected to increase from $543.8m in 2010 to $3710.3m in 2020 at a CAGR of 21.2%.


Ultracapacitor Market Will Increase Significantly in the Future

Ultracapacitors can store a large amount of energy due to the enormous surface area created by their porous carbon electrodes and small charge separation created by the dielectric separator. The charges they hold are analogous to the static electricity that builds up on a balloon, but are much greater due to the extremely large surface area of their interior materials. Energy storage mechanisms used in supercapacitors are highly reversible and allow charging and discharging for hundreds of thousands of cycles. Total number of charge-discharge cycles for the commercial ultracapacitors varies between 500,000 to one million. Ultracapacitors have high efficiency and are best suited for applications that require high power density, such as consumer electronics, transportation, industrial and telecommunication.