WORD
Tracking the Rise of the Off-Grid Energy Storage Market
The image that “off-grid” solar conjures of small cabins or individual solar home systems is outdated
in today’s world. Yes, it’s true, off-grid storage applications do include
remote homes and even remote communities in some of world’s developing regions, but off-grid solar makes
possible a wide range of applications
from residential to commercial, and
continues on a path of rapid growth.
According to a 2016 Bloomberg
New Energy Finance (BNEF) industry
research report, the off-grid solar sector should reach $3.1 billion by 2020.
The energy storage sector is positioned
to follow the same upward growth
trend. Today, off-grid applications
ranging from private residences and
eco-resorts, to remote lighting, telecom
and community microgrids in developing countries, benefit from battery
storage solutions.
Opportunities for growth in the off-grid energy storage market are found
in both developing and developed
regions of the world. Let’s take the
oil and gas industry which has seen
the pairing of two unlikely industries
— solar and big oil. In recent years,
oil companies have relied on solar
power with battery storage to operate remote well pumps in some of the
harshest environments throughout
the world to avoid costly downtime.
Solar power is displacing previous
power methods such as diesel generators and pneumatic pumps, which
have both economic and environmental repercussions. The use of renewable energy sources such as solar and
wind with battery storage are now in
place to operate many of these remote
oil production sites.
In developing regions, Bloomberg
estimates that 1. 2 billion people worldwide still do not have daily access to
reliable electricity. This has led to the
increase in installations of off-grid
microgrids in these remote areas. In
Colombia, the government, through its
Ministry of Mines and Energy, issued
a mandate to expand the availability
of electricity to the country’s northern
remote Choco region bordering Panama along the Caribbean Sea. The project involved building solar microgrids
to provide power for five indigenous
communities. Having reliable electricity available for most of the day enables
these villages to expand and improve
the quality of life of residents, as well
as enhance commercial business
activities, which benefits the country
as a whole.
As the global community continues
to adopt off-grid solar, the implementation of energy storage solutions is
sure to mirror the fast-paced growth
of this off-grid energy segment. à
Ganesh
Balasubramanian
is Director of New
Market Development
for Trojan Battery
Co., LLC.
