BloombergNEF: Solar Battery Gross sales in California May Quadruple in 2020 – Solar Trade
BloombergNEF has predicted that at least 50,000 California households will install storage systems this year.
That number would quadruple the total as of 2019. The forecast followed a year of record-breaking growth in solar storage systems for private households in the USA, as there is a greater need for power failure protection and coverage of supply costs.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has likely delayed storage installations for households across the country, the demand forces are still there. Bloomberg cited California's catastrophic blackouts in 2019 and the introduction of utility pricing as the main driver of the increased demand.
As the forecast shows, more than a million California households already had solar panels at the beginning of the year. This number is expected to increase dramatically in the future: From January 1, the state will require that new houses be equipped with solar energy. House construction will continue regardless of the COVID-19 situation and the solar mandate will include around 100,000 new solar systems annually. The financial and energetic benefits of storage combined with a California rebate program and federal investment tax credit will likely attract many of these home buyers to add a battery.
The following companies are among the most active in the industry: NeoVolta, Tesla, Generac and SunPower.
NeoVolta, which recently started trading and costs around $ 2.85 per share, is the only pure energy storage company on this list. The San Diego-based manufacturer's NV14 system has a capacity of 14.4 kWh and lithium iron phosphate chemistry, which is safer, cleaner, and more durable than traditional lithium-ion battery chemistries. The capacity of the NV14 can be expanded to 24.0 kWh with the optional NV24 add-on – without the cost of a second inverter. The company recently announced that the state of California has approved its 24 kWh product for consumer discounts of up to $ 6,000.
Tesla, whose stock is trading around $ 1,403 per share and has more than doubled in the past 120 days, continues to devote resources to energy storage. Tesla's flagship in-home energy storage is the lithium-ion-based Powerwall 2, which has a storage capacity of 13.5 kWh.
Generac, whose shares trade around $ 166 per share, is a new entrant in the energy storage market with the acquisition of PIKA Energy in April 2019. The company has been in the backup power business since 1959, starting with gas-powered generators for homes and RVs. In the fall of 2019, the Wisconsin-based company unveiled its 8.6 kWh PWRcell solar storage technology, which can be configured up to 17.1 kWh.
SunPower, which trades around $ 11.92 per share, has been a solar innovator in Silicon Valley since 1985. In September 2019, SunPower introduced the all-in-one Equinox storage, which is designed to be integrated with SunPower solar modules. The Equinox offers a storage capacity of up to 13 kWh, a 10-year guarantee and is designed for indoor and outdoor use.
Photo: Tesla's solar roof website