Thermal Energy Storage Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Growing Demand for Electricity – Large-scale uses of thermal energy storage are found in the realm of electrical energy generation. Hence, during times of high energy demand, electricity is generated using the stored heat energy. The January 2022 issue of the IEA's semi-annual Electricity Market Report states that in 2021 the demand for electricity increased by more than 1500 terawatt hours across the globe. It was the greatest ever in history.
• Higher Generation of Solar Energy – The sun's rays are reflected onto a collector in a concentrating solar power (CSP) system, creating heat that is used to generate electricity that can either be used right away or stored as thermal energy for later use. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, by the end of 2020, there were 710 GW of solar PV installations worldwide. The highest capacity expansion of any renewable energy source occurred in 2020 with an increase of about 125 GW in new solar PV capacity.
• Growing Investment in Energy Transition– Rising expenditure on the technologies used for energy transition is expected to boost the thermal energy storage market growth. An all-time high of USD 1.3 trillion was invested globally in energy transition technologies in 2022, including energy efficiency. Although to stay on track, the annual investment needs to be quadrupled.
• Rising Generation of Thermal Power –Thermal power can be stored in underground tanks for future use.  India produced around 88,000 million units (MU) of thermal power in November 2022, which is about 16% higher than the 75,000 MU it produced a year earlier.
• Rising Development of Smart Infrastructure – Applications for thermal energy storage can be found in urban spaces. Energy storage is acknowledged by utilities as being crucial to advancing the smart grid and, by default the smart cities.  Around 43 megacities with populations over 10 million are projected to exist in the world by 2030, the majority of them in developing areas.

Challenges

• Limitation associated with container size and its thermal stability
• Storage of thermal energy can be expensive- the developing stage of thermal energy storage required extensive research and development to achieve its maximum efficiency, moreover the installation cost of the underground storage facilities is high. Therefore, the overall cost of thermal energy storage is expensive and is likely to hamper the market growth.
• Lack of infrastructure in the developing countries