Thermal Energy Storage Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027

The global thermal energy storage market is evaluated at US$4.254 billion for the year 2020, growing at a CAGR of 13.23%, reaching a market size of US$10.151 billion by the year 2027.

Thermal energy storage is the technology used to store thermal energy by varying the temperature so that it can be used later for different purposes. The market is majorly driven by the fact that with a significant depletion in the availability of fossil resources and the negative impact of these resources on nature, the demand for renewable and more sustainable resources has increased significantly. Renewable energies include ocean waves, solar radiation, wind, and biogas. Thermal energy storage systems are used majorly in building and industrial processes. Thermal energy storage has an ample number of advantages, like an increase in overall efficiency, and also provides more reliability. A critical factor that drives the market is that thermal energy storage also proves to be economically better. It takes a lesser amount of investment and incurs lower running costs. Moreover, there has been a significant increase in the demand for thermal energy storage solutions owing to the increased applications like heating, ventilating, and HVACs.

The market is also fuelled by a rapid increase in governmental relaxation across several countries to use renewable resources for energy. For instance, the government of China gives out ‘ 5-year plans’ every five years. According to the plan of 2007, the share of renewable energy consumption needed to reach 10% by 2010 and 15% by 2020. The government of China ensures that the predictions of the five-year plans are attained. Similarly, the government of the United States has been focussing on shifting towards energy generated through renewable sources. According to a recent policy debate, the government is concerned about the GHG emissions from the power and transportation sectors. To fight the increasing concerns, the government of the United States passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 13, 2009. Out of the total funds given to ARRA, US$43 Billion was dedicated to ‘clean energy.’ Furthermore, out of this US$43 Billion, approximately US$ 2.5 Billion was dedicated to research and development within the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. With such huge investments in the sector, the demand for thermal storage solutions is expected to witness significant growth in the forecast period.

The segmentation of the thermal energy storage market has been done into type, applications, technology, and geography. By type, the classification of the market has been done into molten salt, chilled water, heat, ice, and others. Based on applications, the segmentation of the market has been done into power generation and heating & cooling. By technology, the market has been segmented into sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, and thermochemical heat storage. Furthermore, based on geography, the global market is distributed in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific.

Increasing demand for energy storage owing to the increasing levels of energy generation

The increasing demand for thermal energy storage solutions is due to a significant increase in solar power generation globally. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the rapid increase in the generation of renewable sources of energy can help to reduce the Co2 emissions according to the Paris Climate targets that are to be achieved by 2050. Moreover, according to the data from the International Renewable Energy Agency, the generation of electricity through solar resources has increased exponentially over the years, from 131,462 GWh in 2013 to 549,833 GWh in 2018. With such an immense rate of solar power generation and an increasing number of plants being operated, the demand for thermal energy storage solutions is expected to witness a rapid rise during the forecast period.

Molten salt storage is expected to have a significant share

Thermal energy storage with molten salt type is expected to have a significant share in the market during the forecast period owing to its economic advantages over its counterparts. The molten salt in storage in concentrated solar power plants is one of the cheapest ways to store thermal energy for long hours. Moreover, molten salt storage has a large-scale storage capacity and higher boiling points compared to others. The system also provides higher volumetric heat capacities, due to which the system is preferred by ample customers.

Competitive Insights

The players in the global power rental market are implementing various growth strategies to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in this market. Major market players in the market have been covered along with their relative competitive strategies, and the report also mentions recent deals and investments of different market players over the last few years. The company profiles section details the business overview, financial performance (public companies) for the past few years, key products and services being offered, along with the recent deals and investments of these important players in the market.

Recent Developments

Azelio introduced an electro-thermal storage device for commercial purposes in October 2021. The technology, developed by Swedish company Azelio, stores renewable energy inside recycled aluminium and produces both electrical and thermal energy, with an efficiency of 90%.

The Department of Science and Technology initiated a collection of scientific breakthroughs in energy storage in September 2021, to reach a pilot plant or application-level demonstration shortly. Researchers, stakeholders, and the general public will be able to learn about the 14 successful projects under the Materials for Energy Storage (MES) program, which was launched by Renu Swarup, Secretary, DST, and can be scaled up as per national needs and priorities shortly, it added.

COVID-19 Impact

The advent of COVID-19 hurt the market since the pandemic brought the activities in various industries to a standstill, including all the oil & gas and renewable energy plants across several countries, and slowed the growth of the thermal energy storage market to a significant level in the year 2020. With the industries getting back on track and recovering after suffering losses due to the pandemic, significant activities like production and exploration have resumed. The growth of the thermal energy storage market is expected to show a gradual increase initially. However, it is expected to witness rapid growth after the industries resume full-fledged activities in the coming years.

Segmentation

By Material Type

• Molten salt
• Water
• Phase Change Materials (PCM)

By Application

• Power Generation
• Heating & Cooling

By Technology

• Sensible Heat storage
• Latent Heat storage
• Thermochemical heat storage

By End-User

• Utilities
• Residential and Commercial

By Geography

• North America
• USA
• Canada
• Mexico
• South America
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Europe
• Germany
• France
• UK
• Spain
• Middle East and Africa
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• Asia Pacific
• China
• Japan
• India
• South Korea
• Thailand
• Indonesia