Global wind and solar installed capacity has grown steadily in recent years, and the energy storage market is expected to follow. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery storage technology has significant advantages over other technologies and is becoming a major installed new energy storage capacity worldwide, according to Taiwan analyst TrendForce.

This is in line with an earlier study by Wood Mackenzie, which predicted that lithium iron phosphate (LFP) market share will surpass nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) by 2028. Nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries still had half of the market share last year, but LFP batteries began to emerge due to their competitive costs, long life cycles and high safety performance.

According to TrendForce, the cumulative global installed renewable energy capacity in 2021 was 3,064 G W, highlighting the urgent need for energy storage to balance the supply of intermittent sources. 

The global energy storage market maintained high growth in 2021. The TrendForce said the new installed capacity reached 29.6 GWh, up 72.4 percent from a year earlier. Looking ahead, the global energy storage market will expand rapidly, reaching 362 GWh by 2025.

China is expected to overtake Europe and the United States. According to TrendForce, China's energy storage market will exceed 100 GWh by 2025.

In the United States, future growth will focus on electrochemical storage as new pumped storage capacity is stagnant. New installed capacity in the United States is expected to reach 136 GWh by 2025. Meanwhile, TrendForce said that Europe expects to add 54 GWh of new installed capacity by 2025, driven by various geopolitical forces.

In the battery storage market, TrendForce noted that the dominance of South Korean manufacturers such as Samsung and LG has declined to some extent. This is partly due to the accelerated expansion of Chinese battery manufacturers such as BYD, which remain loyal to LFP battery technology, including BYD (BYD) and Ningde Times (CATL).

When it comes to energy storage power regulation systems (PCS), most of them come from solar inverter manufacturers. For established vendors such as SMA and Sungrow and newcomers, this segment is expected to grow.

TrendForce said there will be relatively fragmented competition in the system portfolio, with small and medium-sized enterprises occupy the majority. However, it added that some leading upstream companies such as Sungrow and NextEra Energy will also be part of the mix.