In other sectors, clean electrification enabled by batteries is critical to reduce the use of oil, natural gas and coal. To triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 while maintaining electricity security, energy storage needs to increase six-times.
The ever-increasing demand for electricity can be met while balancing supply changes with the use of robust energy storage devices. Battery storage can help with frequency stability and control for short-term needs, and they can help with energy management or reserves for long-term needs.
As manufacturing capacity expands in the major electric car markets, we expect battery production to remain close to EV demand centres through to 2030, based on the announced pipeline of battery manufacturing capacity expansion as of early 2024.
Strong government support for the rollout of EVs and incentives for battery storage are expanding markets for batteries around the world. China is currently the world’s largest market for batteries and accounts for over half of all battery in use in the energy sector today.
In 2022, about 60% of lithium, 30% of cobalt and 10% of nickel demand was for EV batteries. Just five years earlier, in 2017, these shares were around 15%, 10% and 2%, respectively.
Battery storage projects are getting larger in the United States. The battery storage facility owned by Vistra and located at Moss Landing in California is currently the largest in operation in the country, with 750 megawatts (MW).