The US energy storage industry set a new deployment record in 2018. This breakthrough development trend will continue to be maintained in 2019 and 2020. It is estimated that the installed capacity deployed by US energy storage projects will be twice and three times that of 2018 respectively. By the end of this year, global solar power generation will increase to more than 26 times that of solar power generation in 2009, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 100 million households in the United States.

According to the research organization Bloomberg New Energy Finance Company estimates that by 2050, global investment in batteries will reach US$843.0 billion, which reflects the importance of batteries in driving this growth. The company's market analyst Avicenne predicts that between 2015 and 2025, the number of batteries required for energy storage applications will more than double, from 100 GWh to more than 400 GWh.

With the rapid advancement of the electric vehicle revolution, by 2030, there will be 120 million electric vehicles on the road in the United States, the European Union and China, and the role of batteries will become more important.

Due to the huge demand, only one battery technology cannot meet the market demand. Lithium-ion battery technology is undoubtedly the core participant, and advanced lead-acid batteries are the only battery in the mass market that can meet the technical requirements of automotive and energy storage applications.

As countries around the world are committed to achieving carbon emission targets, advanced lead-acid batteries have become an effective, reliable and safe battery technology that will play a vital role. In the field of sustainable development and circular economy, the recovery rate of lead-acid batteries in the United States and Europe is as high as 99%.

The Battery Innovation Alliance composed of global battery manufacturers, lead producers, battery suppliers, and the world's leading universities and testing institutions has developed a technological innovation roadmap. Based on extensive global market analysis and collaboration with end users, this roadmap aims to deliver the next generation of lead-acid batteries through research and innovation.

Nowadays, almost every car uses lead-acid batteries, and the ever-increasing number of electric vehicles also require improvements in the performance of lead-acid batteries. For energy storage applications, the Battery Innovation Alliance has set a goal of increasing the number of battery charge and discharge cycles to 5,000 cycles by 2022, which is a key performance improvement. The number of battery charging and discharging is critical to the performance of battery energy storage systems, especially for intermittent renewable energy sources (such as solar energy). And setting a five-fold performance improvement goal will prompt lead-acid battery manufacturers to seize the opportunity to provide reliable, safe and cost-effective energy storage services.

The large-scale solar power equipment operated by the New Mexico Public Service Corporation (PNM) uses EastPenn/Ecoult's lead-acid battery energy storage system

With the combination of global interconnection technology and clean energy, this will bring a brighter future to the battery market. The dawn of 5G will play a central role in supporting mobile networks and infrastructure in the UPS power supply and telecommunications industries.

The Battery Innovation Alliance believes that the potential of lead-acid battery technology has not been fully utilized, and the battery industry needs to continue to develop and innovate to ensure the achievement of ambitious carbon emissions targets.

A 1MWh energy storage solution using NorthStar lead-acid batteries deployed by a community power supplier in Missouri.