According to an analysis, more and more households and energy companies in Germany are turning to solar energy storage systems. In the spring of this year, two million storage systems were in operation across Germany, with 600,000 systems added last year alone, according to the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) on Tuesday. Battery storage systems can absorb electricity when there is a large supply of electricity and release it again when there is a high demand for electricity.
According to the industry association, electricity storage systems are now “standard” in new residential buildings. Demand for large storage systems, which are installed next to solar or wind farms, for example, has also increased recently. “Battery storage systems are already making an important contribution to stabilizing the electricity system and are making a significant contribution to the security and reliability of the electricity supply,” BSW Managing Director Carsten Körnig told the AFP news agency.
According to the data, the storage systems can now temporarily store a total of 20 gigawatt hours of electricity. This is enough to cover the average daily consumption of two to four million two-person households. According to BSW estimates, 1.7 gigawatt hours of storage capacity were added in the first quarter of the current year, an increase of 16 percent compared to the same period last year.
However, the expansion of storage capacity must continue to accelerate, explained the BSW. Implementation still fails too often due to the "outdated legal framework". The association therefore called for, among other things, the privileging of electricity storage systems in building law. By 2030, the storage capacity would have to increase to 100 to 150 gigawatt hours, the association explained, referring to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute.
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