Faced with soaring electricity costs and unstable grid operations, more and more household users rely on household solar power generation facilities and household energy storage systems to achieve energy independence. In comparison, the household storage system can enable household users to produce, store and manage clean energy more efficiently and economically. It has become an important part of the new power system and one of the main driving forces for the growth of global energy storage installations.




Overview of Global Household Savings Market Development

Compared with industrial and commercial energy storage, the installed capacity of household storage is relatively small, generally around 10kwh. As far as the technical route is concerned, household storage is also significantly different from large-scale storage. Household storage adopts an electrochemical energy storage route that is more flexible in installed capacity, mature in industrial chain development, qualified for mass production and promotion, and easy to install, operate and maintain. In terms of working principle, the household storage system directly uses photovoltaic power generation during the day, stores more electric energy in the battery, and can use the battery to supply power at night. This can not only reduce electricity bills, but also ensure the stability of electricity consumption under extreme weather and other conditions.

Since 2021, driven by the dual drive of high electricity prices and energy security needs, the global demand for household energy storage has ushered in an explosion. At the same time, governments of various countries have also introduced policy support and subsidies for this. Household energy storage systems are particularly in demand in areas with high electricity prices and poor grid stability.

According to BNEF data, the proportion of household energy storage in the global energy storage market has stabilized between 20% and 30% in recent years. Among them, the European and American markets each account for about 25% of the global market share. Due to the continuous increase in electricity prices and electricity consumption, household storage will release strong momentum in the future. With the continuous advancement of distributed photovoltaic installed capacity and the continuous improvement of household storage economy, BNEF predicts that by 2026, the global household storage market share will increase to 42%, and the global household storage newly installed capacity will reach 159.1GW, which is about 21 years. 25 times. According to the calculation based on USD 10,000 per set of 10kWh energy storage system, it is estimated that in the future, new household storage installations in the world will bring a market space of 100 billion yuan.


In December last year, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (Solarpower Europe) released the European household storage market outlook report. In 2022, the European household storage market is expected to have an installed capacity of 3.9GWh, a growth rate of 71%. Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Austria ranked the top four with 1.54GWh, 1.1GWh, 0.29GWh, and 0.22GWh respectively. It is worth mentioning that by 2022, the number of households installing photovoltaic and energy storage systems in Europe will exceed 1 million.

                               Figure: Growth Trend of European Household Savings Market, 2013-2021


Source: European Household Storage Market Outlook from 2022 to 2026 by European Photovoltaic Industry Association

The growth of distributed photovoltaic installed capacity is the cornerstone of the growth of the household storage market. The data shows that the average matching rate between European household energy storage systems and distributed photovoltaic systems will increase from 23% in 2020 to 27% in 2021.

                           Figure: Forecast of European Household Savings Market Size in 2026

Source: European Household Storage Market Outlook from 2022 to 2026 by European Photovoltaic Industry Association

According to data from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, in the medium-term scenario, it is expected that the increase in household storage in Europe will reach 4.5GWh in 2023, 5.1GWh in 2024, and 6.0GWh in 2025; it will reach 7.3GWh in 2026, and the cumulative installed capacity will reach 32.2GWh. Among them, Poland, Spain, and Sweden are emerging markets with great potential. Under high economic conditions, by the end of 2026, the scale of European household storage operations will reach 44.4GWh, while under low economic conditions, this scale will be 23.2GWh.

From the perspective of market distribution, by 2026, Germany will remain the undisputed "leader" in the field of household savings in Europe, followed by Italy. In the forecast of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, under the medium-term scenario, by 2026, the structure of the European household storage market will change, and Poland and Sweden will rank third and fourth, ranking TOP4 together with Germany and Italy. At that time, the proportion of the four major markets will drop to 64%, mainly due to the growth of other regions. In the medium-term scenario, from 2023 to 2026, the annual newly installed capacity in Europe will maintain a low double-digit growth rate. This is mainly related to the growth of the residential PV market.

The future development trend of household savings

As far as products are concerned, the future household storage system will continue to develop in these three directions:

1. High voltage and modularization: With the increase of residential electricity consumption, the charging capacity of each household is gradually increasing, and modular combination products can meet the needs of different capacity scenarios; at the same time, higher voltage batteries have also become an industry trend;

2. The capacity of the single cell is smaller: the low-voltage platform cell is mostly 100 Ah, and the high-voltage platform gradually transitions to 50 Ah. Under the trend of high voltage, smaller cell capacity is more suitable;

3. Integration: For manufacturers, all-in-one machines can expand sales and improve after-sales maintenance efficiency; for consumers, all-in-one machines can also save follow-up costs.

At present, the user-side energy storage market is still dominated by overseas markets, but my country‘s photovoltaic companies have a certain say in product production. Although, compared with Tesla, the leading energy storage company in the United States, and Sonnen, a local German brand, my country‘s energy storage companies still account for a relatively small proportion of the terminal market, but in recent years, many Chinese players have chosen to start from batteries or converters upstream of the industrial chain. Cutting into the global household storage track and entering the European and American markets, this overseas strategy has strong competitiveness.

As the penetration rate of domestic user-side energy storage further increases, the household storage market will become a hot new energy "battlefield".