Stationary Storage Fraction of Advanced Battery Market

Stationary storage represents just a tiny segment of the advanced battery market, while consumer electronics represents a huge portion of the market, according to a study by Navigant Research.

For 2012, Navigant Research identified a total global shipment volume of 26.7 GWh of advanced batteries, representing more than 3 billion individual battery cells, 15 GW of power capacity, and $10.8 billion in sales. The majority of these batteries were manufactured in China and shipped around the world, according to Advanced Battery Tracker 4Q13.

Of this total, the stationary storage segment accounted for just 196.2 MWh. The consumer electronics segment accounted for 21.5 GWh, the report shows.

When measured by cell shipments, more than 99 percent of advanced batteries were made with Li-ion chemistries. This is the primary chemistry utilized in consumer electronics, power tools, EVs, and medical and defense applications. The only major application segment with significant market penetration by other chemistries is the stationary energy storage market, where some systems utilize flow batteries, sodium metal halide batteries, sodium sulfur batteries, and aqueous sodium ion batteries, the report says.

The lithium ion stationary energy storage market will grow from 27 MW of global installed capacity in 2013 to 1,753 MW in 2022, according to am April study by Navigant.

As the Li-ion manufacturing industry develops, it promises to eventually deliver low-cost, long-lasting, and safe batteries that will play a key role in both the electricity grid and transportation markets in the future, according to Navigant Research Leaderboard Report: Lithium Ion Batteries for Stationary Energy Storage.

The Li-ion battery industry has gone from one crisis to the next, including lower than expected sales in the electric vehicle segment as well as safety incidents that have damaged the technology’s reputation, Navigant says. As a result, the vendor landscape has consolidated, leading to bankruptcies, factory closings, and a general investor pullback.