‘Batteries are changing the game before our eyes.’ Those were words from International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol in an IEA report last year. ‘The electricity and transport sectors are two key pillars for bringing down emissions quickly enough to meet the targets agreed at COP28 and keep open the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C,’ he said.

‘Batteries will provide the foundations in both areas, playing an invaluable role in scaling up renewables and electrifying transport while delivering secure and sustainable energy for businesses and households. The combination of solar PV and batteries is today competitive with new coal plants in India. And just in the next few years, it will be cheaper than new coal in China and gas-fired power in the United States.’

In the report, which examined the potential of batteries, the IEA said that ‘in less than 15 years, battery costs have fallen by more than 90%, one of the fastest declines ever seen in clean energy technologies. The most common type of batteries, those based on lithium-ion, have typically been associated with consumer electronics. But today, the energy sector accounts for over 90% of overall battery demand. In 2023 alone, battery deployment in the power sector increased by more than 130% year-on-year, adding a total of 42 GW to electricity systems around the world’.

As the world races towards a cleaner, more sustainable energy future, developing countries face a unique challenge: how to expand access to electricity while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. For many, this balancing act comes with the added pressures of rapid population growth, fragile power infrastructure and limited financial resources. In this context, grid-scale battery storage is emerging as a transformative technology – one that could redefine the future of energy access in the Global South.

About 700 million people worldwide still live without electricity, the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. For those who do have access, supply is often unreliable, with frequent blackouts and brownouts hindering everything from basic health services to economic productivity.

Historically, many developing countries have depended on diesel generators and coal-fired plants to power their grids – options that are both costly and polluting. However, the accelerating drop in costs for solar and wind energy presents a compelling opportunity to leapfrog traditional fossil fuel-based energy systems.

Yet, renewables come with a major drawback: intermittency. Solar panels don’t generate electricity at night, and wind turbines turn only when the wind blows. This makes it difficult to rely solely on renewables without a mechanism to store excess energy for when demand exceeds supply.

Grid-scale battery storage offers a solution to the intermittency problem by storing electricity when production is high and releasing it when needed. These large batteries act as energy reservoirs, smoothing out the peaks and troughs of renewable generation and ensuring consistent power delivery.

‘By enabling greater shares of renewables in the power system and shifting electricity supply to when it’s most needed, batteries will help advance progress on the goals set at COP28. These include tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, doubling the pace of energy efficiency improvements and transitioning away from fossil fuels. To triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, 1 500 GW of energy storage, of which 1 200 GW [will come] from batteries, will be required. A shortfall in deploying enough batteries would risk stalling clean energy transitions in the power sector,’ said the IEA report.

‘Battery deployment will need to scale up significantly between now and the end of the decade to enable the world to get on track for its energy and climate goals,’ according to the report. In this scenario, overall energy storage capacity increases sixfold by 2030 worldwide, with batteries accounting for 90% of the increase and pumped hydropower for most of the rest,’ said the organisation.

A key factor behind the growing feasibility of grid-scale battery storage is the rapid decline in costs. This trend is expected to continue as innovation accelerates and economies of scale kick in.

Emerging technologies, such as flow batteries, solid-state batteries and sodium-ion batteries, are also being developed, potentially offering safer, longer-lasting and even cheaper storage options. These innovations could make storage solutions more adaptable to the needs and constraints of developing regions.

South Africa has been an early advocate of the battery/solar renewables combo, with the country’s electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, calling it a ‘trailblazer’ in this regard.

The country’s government has launched the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement programme (BESIPPP), to run with its highly successful REIPPPP (Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement programme), which has been in existence for nearly 15 years. Several projects have been rolled out recently with more in the pipeline. For instance, construction on two grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) is scheduled to get under way soon.

The Mogobe BESS, near Kathu in the Northern Cape, is being developed by a consortium led by solar PV specialist Scatec, while the Oasis Mookodi BESS in the North West province will be built by a consortium led by EDF Energy. Together the systems have a total capacity of 180 MW/720 MWh. Both projects, worth a total ZAR5.3 billion, have reached commercial close and are part of the BESIPPP’s Bid Window 1 (BW1).

In December, the Department of Electricity and Energy announced the successful bidders under the BESIPPP Bid Window 2, which aims to procure 77 MW of BESS at eight substations, each with four hours of storage.

‘The BW2 round was found to be highly competitive, with a marked increase in the number of bids relative to BW1, resulting in a 35% decrease in the average evaluation price, compared to BW1 prices,’ according to the department.

The projects are spread across the North West, Free State and Gauteng provinces and have a total 615 MW of BESS capacity.

The department also revealed a list of 33 bidders for BW3 of BESIPPPP last month.

Elsewhere in Africa, Energy Storage News has reported that AMEA Power will work with Trinasolar and Energy China ZTPC to install battery storage at a 500 MW solar PV plant in Egypt.

Despite the promise of battery storage, widespread deployment in developing countries faces significant hurdles. Chief among these challenges are limited access to financing, policy uncertainty and a lack of technical expertise.

‘South Africa’s electricity crisis, exemplified by years of damaging load shedding, means the country desperately needs a coherent electricity supply strategy that aligns with climate change goals. Batteries can play a fundamental role in this,’ says Richard Halsey, a policy adviser at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and lead author of a report titled Watts in Store Part 2, which discusses creating the right environment for grid batteries in South Africa. The IISD is a think tank ‘working to accelerate solutions for a stable climate, sustainable resource management and fair economies’.

The IISD says successful battery deployment in regions such as ‘South Australia and California can guide South Africa, but solutions are location specific. Replicable strategies include enabling battery operators to benefit from multiple revenue streams, clear government policy support and specific financing mechanisms for initial battery projects to help accelerate adoption. Growing demand for batteries is also an opportunity to boost the South African economy and job creation, due to availability of many of the critical minerals required for the market-leading lithium-ion batteries and the vanadium required for vanadium redox flow batteries, which due to their longer-duration storage are forecast to play a growing role in the sector’.

International development banks, climate funds and public-private partnerships also have a vital role to play. Initiatives like the World Bank’s Energy Storage Partnership and the African Development Bank’s Desert to Power programme are already mobilising resources, but far more investment is needed to scale solutions across entire regions.

In addition, governments must develop regulatory frameworks that encourage battery storage deployment.

The next decade will be critical in shaping the energy future of developing nations. As they strive to meet climate goals, expand access to electricity and improve quality of life, grid-scale battery storage can serve as a cornerstone technology.

But success will depend on visionary policymaking, international co-operation and local innovation. As Halsey put it: ‘With a shift under way in South Africa towards a more open electricity market with competitive trading, there will only be increasing prospects for grid batteries.’

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