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 a study by Navigant Research.
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. Nevertheless, the market is still crowded with dozens of players, all of whom are competing to remain viable in this promising but challenging sector.
Navigant has named JCI and LG Chem as the only two Li-ion firms in the “Leaders” category. To qualify for the “Leaders” category, a company must perform exceedingly well in both strategy and execution, Navigant says.
The second category of companies is the “Contenders,” which signifies that a company has shown the required staying power in the market, despite relatively slow growth, while at the same time boasting significant financial reserves for future investment. Samsung SDI, Hitachi and Lishen make up this category.
The largest group of companies falls into the “Challenger” category. The companies in this category – GS Yuasa, Panasonic, BYD, Toshiba, Saft and Microvast scored high enough to show that they have the capability to remain in the market as it develops and can potentially attain “Leader” status in the coming years. That does not necessarily hold true for the five companies that fell into the Follower category, Navigant says.
In February, Samsung SDI and Xtreme Power announced that they had been selected by the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies to install a 1 MW/1 MWh lithium ion-based battery energy storage system at the Reese Technology Center in Lubbock, Texas, as part of a $27 million smart grid demonstration project. The system will be owned and operated by South Plains Electric Cooperative as one of several project technologies to serve the smart grid demonstration project’s objective of wind integration.