Presentation

EUPD Group: German Storage Market Shifts to Larger C&I and Utility Systems

Daniel Fuchs from EUPD Group presented insights into the European energy storage market at the Tecloman BESS in Action event. He highlighted a significant market transformation across Europe, with a distinct shift from residential to larger C&I and utility-scale battery energy storage systems, particularly evident in Germany.

Interviewer · EUPD Group
Daniel Fuchs
CCO · EUPD Group
Guest · EUPD Group
Daniel Fuchs
CCO · EUPD Group
Filmed ·Web·Runtime 09:21Presentation ·
Presentation · Web
09:21
Filmed on site · No editorial direction beyond question set · Captions auto-generated, reviewed by EUPD Research

Key takeaways

4 points · 09:21 video
  1. Continued European Market Growth
    The European Union installed approximately 20 gigawatt hours of new energy storage capacity in 2024, driven by accelerated PV deployment and stronger incentives for self-consumption.
  2. Segmental Shift Underway
    The market is undergoing a significant transformation, moving from predominantly residential installations towards larger systems in the commercial & industrial (C&I) and utility-scale segments across Europe.
  3. Germany's Leading Position
    Germany, a pioneer in energy storage, achieved a cumulative installed capacity of 18.9 gigawatt hours by the end of 2024, representing a 55% year-over-year growth. While residential remains strong, C&I and utility-scale applications are expanding.
  4. Anticipated Grid Scale Surge
    EUPD Research anticipates a rapid growth in the C&I and utility-scale segments from 2025 onwards, signaling a 'grid scale surge' for the European energy storage market.

European Energy Storage Market Overview

The European energy storage market continues its growth trajectory, with top markets within the European Union collectively installing approximately 20 gigawatt hours of new energy storage capacity in 2024. This sustained demand is primarily influenced by accelerated photovoltaic (PV) deployment and evolving incentives that promote self-consumption. On a country level, Germany leads the European Union in installed storage capacity, followed by Italy and the United Kingdom. While Germany's market has historically been characterized by substantial residential installations, Italy and the UK are already demonstrating trends toward grid-scale system sizes.

"The top markets within the European Union approximately installed 20 gigawatt hours of new energy storage capacity only in the last year, 2024." Fuchs · 00:51

Shifting Landscape: From Residential to C&I and Utility Scale

A notable segmental shift is occurring across the European energy storage market. Historically strong residential markets are transitioning towards larger systems in the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) and utility-scale segments. Investments in C&I and utility-scale PV and storage applications are increasing, driving this market transformation. EUPD Research confirms this ongoing segmental shift, observing that a 'grid scale surge' is anticipated from 2025. This period is expected to mark a phase of rapidly growing installations within both the C&I and utility-scale segments, indicating a strategic alignment with the future demands of the energy landscape.

"We see the market transformation clearly now shifting towards more larger systems already now, but also in the near future coming up." Fuchs · 03:33

Germany: A Pioneer in Energy Storage

Germany stands out as a leading market within the European Union and globally for energy storage, having accumulated approximately 18.9 gigawatt hours of installed storage capacity by the end of 2024. This represents a 55% year-over-year growth compared to 2023. In Germany, the residential segment remains robust, driven by end-customer preferences for autarky and self-consumption. For commercial applications, energy storage primarily supports peak load management and electric vehicle (EV) charging. Germany also maintains a coherent energy storage deployment agenda and a 'Strategy 2030' to ensure the country meets its renewable energy targets and stabilizes its grid amidst increasing congestion from PV integration. In 2024 alone, Germany added 6.7 gigawatt hours of energy storage, a moderate increase of 11% compared to the previous year, with the residential market contributing significantly to these deployments.

"Germany had a cumulative storage capacity installed of approximately 18.9 gigawatt hours by the end of last year." Fuchs · 05:08

German System Sizes and Future Trends

In 2024, Germany installed over 500,000 energy storage units. The breakdown reveals that more than 400,000 of these systems are under 10 kilowatt hours, 135,000 fall within the 10 to 500 kilowatt-hour range, and over 1,000 systems are at the grid-scale level, exceeding 500 kilowatt hours. Across the German market, average system sizes and capacities are consistently increasing. This trend is attributed to rising electrification needs, higher electricity consumption, and the deployment of more efficient, higher-power-density PV systems. It is also noted that the installation of large-scale systems experienced a slight decline after a significant spike in 2022, which was driven by tariff-related incentives.

"Germany installed more than 500,000, so it's more than half a million of energy storage units in the year 2024." Fuchs · 07:47

Two questions on the stand

Chapters · click to jump
00:00
European Storage Market Overview
Introduction to the European energy storage market landscape and its continued growth.
01:07
Growth Drivers and Leading European Markets
Examines the factors driving increased storage demand and identifies top European markets and their initial segmental characteristics.
02:21
The Segmental Shift to C&I and Utility Scale
Details the ongoing market shift from residential to larger commercial & industrial (C&I) and utility-scale energy storage systems across Europe.
04:48
Germany's Role and Strategic Focus
Highlights Germany's leadership in energy storage, its cumulative capacity, primary use cases, and national deployment strategy.
06:43
German Storage Development by Segment and System Size
Provides an in-depth look at Germany's storage installations by segment and system size, noting the increase in average capacities.

Interview transcript

Auto-generated · reviewed · ~3 min read
I will now directly jump into the presentation on the European storage market landscapes and especially touching base on some of the highlights we have seen for battery and energy storage systems in Germany. So, to start off within my presentation today, I'm going to share a European level energy storage overview. And here on the first slide, you will see the annual installed storage capacity in gigawatt hours compared 2023 to 2024. And it becomes clear that we are on a growth rate still and the top markets within the European Union approximately installed 20 gigawatt hours of new energy storage capacity only in the last year, 2024. Why is the storage demand continuously rising? It is based on accelerated PV deployment and of course, also stronger incentives for self-consumptions that are driving the storage deployments all over Europe. Looking on a country level, we see that the biggest markets within the European Union, in terms of installed storage capacity, were Germany, followed by Italy, as well as the United Kingdom. Here, we also have to differentiate a little bit on a segmental level. I will come to that also on the next slide. But we see that the German market, for instance, is or has been characterized by very large volumes of installations in the residential segment, whereas we see trends in Italy and the UK already more towards grid scale sizes. In general, we see a segmental shift. You can see it here on the next slide for PV, but also obviously then followed by energy storage from very strong residential markets previously, now more towards larger systems in the C&I as well as utility scale segments. So my question, of course is, and it is already answered by Thomas Sascha in his presentation, are we prepared for this shift? Do we succeed and are we aligning with that? And we can tick the box, especially for Techman, we have seen it. The portfolio is perfectly aligned. Also what we as market researchers observe currently. So in other words, the investments within the C&I and utility scale PV segments, but also storage of course, are increasing and we see the market transformation clearly now shifting towards more larger systems already now, but also in the near future coming up. This slide, it was already shown a similar graphic by Thomas Sascha. I just want to now underline that also from EUPD Research side. The segmental shift is already happening. It's undergoing and we see the grid scale surge is coming. There's a boom from 2025. So from this year we expect a rapidly growing C&I segment, but also the utility scale segment. And you can see how we are at EUPD Research defining the different segment classes. So it will be going towards larger systems. And when we look now on the German country market, especially being one of the leaders within the European Union, but also globally as one of the pioneers for energy storage, we see that Germany had a cumulative storage capacity installed of approximately 18.9 gigawatt hours by the end of last year. And this amounted in approximately 55% year over year growth compared to the year 2023. When we look at the use cases we see in Germany, the residential segment is very strong due to high tendencies of end customers towards autarky as well as self-consumption. For the C&I or commercial use, energy storage in Germany primarily helps with peak load management and EV charging.And, yeah, Germany also fosters a very strict and coherent energy storage deployment agenda and a strategy 2030 that was implemented by the last administration we had here. So it's really about ensuring that we in Germany are meeting our renewable energy targets and also stabilizing our grid due to the congestion we are currently facing, also from the PV side. When we are also here for Germany, looking on the storage developments on a segmental level, we see that in Germany there were 6.7 gigawatt hours of energy storage added only in 2024, which amounted in a, let's say, moderate increase of 11% compared to the year before 2023. Nevertheless, the residential market was also in 2024, I would say, extremely strong with deployments there up to 20 kilowatt hours of 4.8 gigawatts, which is great. Going even a little bit deeper down into the figures, you see it on the right hand. We do have the system breakdown. Germany installed more than 500,000, so it's more than half a million of energy storage units in the year 2024, and more than 400,000 of these systems are under 10 kilowatt hours. 135,000 are in the range of 10 to 500 kilowatt hours and more than 1,000 are on the grid scale level that were installed, talking about 500 kilowatt hours plus. What we also have noted in Germany, the average system sizes or capacities are constantly increasing. Obviously, we do have more to electrify. There's more electricity consumption, but also one result is certainly coming from a more efficient and higher power density of PV systems installed on the roof. Also here, I would like to highlight that large scale systems, installation of large scale systems slightly declined following a very good spike driven by tariff related incentive in 2022.
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Frequently asked questions

The continuous growth in European energy storage demand is primarily driven by accelerated photovoltaic (PV) deployment across the continent. Additionally, stronger governmental incentives for self-consumption are encouraging wider adoption of storage systems by end-users.

Within the European Union, Germany stands as the largest market for installed storage capacity. It is closely followed by Italy and the United Kingdom. While Germany has seen strong residential growth, Italy and the UK are already demonstrating trends towards larger grid-scale installations.

Yes, the market is undergoing a significant segmental shift. Previously dominated by strong residential installations, the trend is now moving towards larger systems in the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) and utility-scale segments. EUPD Research anticipates a ‘grid scale surge’ from 2025 onwards.

By the end of 2024, Germany had an installed cumulative storage capacity of approximately 18.9 gigawatt hours, representing 55% year-over-year growth. Residential use cases are strong due to high demand for autarky and self-consumption, while C&I energy storage primarily supports peak load management and EV charging.

Germany installed more than 500,000 energy storage units in 2024. Over 400,000 of these were under 10 kilowatt hours, 135,000 ranged from 10 to 500 kilowatt hours, and more than 1,000 units were grid-scale systems exceeding 500 kilowatt hours.