The forum taking place on all three exhibition days hosted over 34 expert presentations on the latest development of storage technologies in the renewable energy sector. The experts presented the current storage market development, the up-to-date technologies and future market scenarios. Presented were also several innovations of the ees Award finalists. The forum was very well-attended and popular among the trade show visitors. In total it was attended by about 800 trade show visitors.
One highlight of the program was the IBESA executive panel discussion, moderated by Markus A.W. Hoehner, Managing Director of IBESA - International Battery and Energy Storage Alliance. Representatives of the European battery industry discussed the current status and trends in the German and European electricity storage market.
One topic was the development of the German storage subsidies granted by the German government, which until now has not received the expected resonance. According to Dr. Matthias Vetter, Head of Department PV Off-Grid Solutions and Battery System Technology, from Fraunhofer ISE the government should rethink the subsidy program as the market is currently driven by first movers.
For Christoph Ostermann, CEO of German storage manufacturer Sonnenbatterie, the momentary lack of quality of the information provided by house banks in rural areas of Germany can influence the buying decision of the end customers negatively.
In terms of future price development the panelists expect further drops due to increasing industrial applications. Joachim Simonis, Head of Marketing and Sales at Leclanché, highlighted the positive effect of utility scale applications, which generate economies of scale in the production. This will also lead to price decreases in the residential segment, says Simonis. A statement that also Franz-Josef Feilmeier, Managing Director of Fenecon, underlined.
In the mid-term the experts also see a business case for retrofitting older PV systems with storage systems. However Ostermann had to admit that this market segment is still "underdeveloped" at the moment. This indicates how huge the potential for storage solutions in Germany is, even when the local PV market shrinks.
Also the other sessions at the ees forum discussed important questions of the future of energy storage systems like policies, strategies, business models and technological innovations. It was the place to be for all trade show visitors in order to be informed on the diverse aspects of the current and future energy storage market.
About electrical energy storage (ees) forum
Taking place for the first time the electrical energy storage (ees) forum was already an integral part of the electrical energy storage (ees) fair 2014 in Munich. The event was supported by the gold sponsors SMA and Sonnenbatterie, the silver sponsor Ingeteam and the sponsor Special Exhibit Innovative Mobility Tesla. Partner of the electrical energy storages (ees) were IBESA - International Battery and Energy Storage Alliance and Battery University.