A growing global battery market offers a new means of bolstering energy security, as gas-fired power plants close down. The NGO Global Energy Monitor (GEM) has tracked the closures of gas-fired plants around the world and found that 177 units have been retired since 2020, including 36 in the US alone. Of those 36, 19 have been closed since the start of 2022.
Japan has also seen a recent spate of closures, with 15 units retired across six plants since 2020. Germany, meanwhile, saw seven units retired across six plants in the same period, while Australia saw four units retired at a single plant (Torrens Island power station) in 2022.
Gas is still being added to the power grid globally, but the rate of growth is slowing, with estimated additions in 2035 set to be less than half of the added capacity in 2018.
Meanwhile, the battery storage market is already seeing growth that is set to continue at a rapid rate. According to estimates from Energy Monitor's parent company GlobalData, there will be a 1493.75% increase in annual battery storage additions from 2022 to 2030.
The market's growth is reflected in growth in the jobs market, with GlobalData's recently published batteries report citing an increase in active jobs in the Li-ion battery industry of over 700% between Q1 2020 and Q2 2023.
Both gas-powered plants and batteries are used as means of balancing electricity markets and therefore contribute to energy security.
GlobalData estimates that the battery energy storage market was worth $6.91bn in 2022. In a recent report, it noted that "the adoption of renewable energy, increasing retail tariffs and the decline in incentives are some of the factors driving the battery energy storage market.
"Renewable energy, complemented by favourable market conditions and government policies, is being deployed on a large scale. Renewable technologies are at the centre of energy sector transformations, with deployments carried out along the value chain ... Battery storage offers the flexibility to address the gap between generation and load curves, preventing major grid failures."
Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets — patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news — to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.
