Explosive Growth Attracts Major Energy Storage Suppliers in Australia

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As households turn to storage to avoid ever increasing electricity tariffs, the Australian energy storage market is on the rise, going from less than 500 installations at the end of 2015 to more than 5,000 systems in 2016. This increase now places Australia in the top five markets for distributed energy storage in 2016, behind the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to IHS Inc., the leading global source of critical information and insight.

Between 2016 and 2018, behind-the-meter residential and commercial storage installations are expected to double each year exceeding 200 megawatts (MW) of installed power capable of storing 250 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, compared to less than 3 MW at the end of 2015. Approximately 30,000 Australian households will have PV-energy storage systems by 2018, according to the latest market brief from the IHS Energy Storage Intelligence Service.

“Major international storage suppliers are now competing to grab market share in Australia,” said Marianne Boust, principal analyst for IHS Technology. “In particular, U.S.-based Tesla has ambitious plans, signing several partnership agreements with well-known solar retailers and established utilities; however, Sunverge, LG Chem and other suppliers are also vying for a leading position in this market..”

Tesla’s launch of its Powerwall home battery with a far-reaching marketing campaign has helped unlock consumer demand for grid independence, but many other international battery manufacturers and storage system providers are also moving into the growing residential solar-energy storage market in Australia.  “An intense competitive environment is emerging, linked to the rapid growth that this market offers,” Boust said.

With growth rising, utilities that have long battled solar-PV growth are now shifting gears to distribute home-based storage solutions. In recent years Australian energy retailers Origin Energy, Energy Australia and AGL suffered from flat or shrinking electricity sales, high churn rates, and lack of visibility in the regulatory framework in the energy sector; however, solar and energy storage now offers substantial growth opportunities for these companies. “In a bold move, Australian energy retailer AGL just announced it had acquired a minority stake in U.S. storage vendor Sunverge and is now the exclusive channel partner for sales of Sunverge’s energy storage systems in Australia,” Boust said.

About IHS 

IHS is the leading source of insight, analytics and expertise in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 140 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS is committed to sustainable, profitable growth and employs approximately 8,600 people in 32 countries around the world.