UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL OF SOLAR & STORAGE
While solar covers around 5% of the European electricity demand today, its contribution could easily increase up to 15% by 2030, it would only take around 20 GW of newly installed PV capacity per year. A major trend linked to the deployment of solar is its co-location with battery storage. Storage adds flexibility and allows increasing system integration of solar PV. European examples can be found in the UK, where the first subsidy free utility solar & storage installations are being developed. Or in Germany, where around 50% of all residential solar installations in 2016/2017 were coupled to battery storage.
From an energy system perspective, storage represents an important flexibility tool since it
- injects and absorbs electricity very fast and with very high accuracy;
- smoothens short-term variability;
- eliminates production and load peaks;
- makes solar fully dispatchable.
In addition, Solar & Storage bring economic advantages: Storing solar electricity when prices are low and using it when prices are high allows stabilizing energy prices to reduce future network upgrades, and expansion cost.
Finally, Solar & Storage bring social benefits such as
- local job creation;
- avoided CO2 emissions;
- true consumer empowerment.
