EuPD Research estimates around 65,000 energy storage systems linked to rooftop PV were installed last year thanks to increasingly popular solar arrays and electric vehicles as well as rising electricity prices.

Demand for residential energy storage continued to increase in Germany last year, according to analyst EuPD Research, which estimated 65,000 rooftop-PV linked systems were installed.

That took Germany to around 200,000 residential batteries by the end of the year, meaning the market had doubled in just two years. In 2018, 40,000 household batteries were installed, according to EuPD.

Demand for electric vehicles and household solar combined with rising electricity prices to drive the storage system figures, the analysts said.

The close relationship with solar rooftops is illustrated by the fact almost 90% of new solar installations last year were combined with a home storage system, according to the market researchers, who said the 65,000 batteries installed last year included retrofits to earlier solar rooftops.

German battery manufacturer Sonnen enjoyed a 20% market share of last year’s residential market, ahead of Chinese rival BYD, with 19%; German provider E3/DC and Italian peer Senec, who each had 14% of the trade; and Korean brand LG Chem, with 12%. EuPD compiled the market share figures from supplier, installer and customer surveys and other research.

Once again, industry figures have highlighted the 52 GW cumulative limit after which small scale solar will receive no further subsidies in Germany as the main cloud on the horizon this year, rather than the Covid-19 public health crisis.

“The success story of photovoltaics seems to be repeating itself with home storage in Germany,” said EuPD Research chief executive Markus Hoehner. “In addition to the challenges in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the home storage industry will face the market limitation of the 52 GW solar cap in 2020.”