The global energy landscape is undergoing a major transformation and batteries are key to enabling the shift to clean energy.
Renewable sources of energy, mainly solar and wind, are getting cheaper and easier to deploy in developing countries, helping expand energy access, aiding global efforts to reach the Sustainable Development Goal on Energy (SDG7) and to mitigate climate change. But solar and wind energy are variable by nature, making it necessary to have an at-scale, tailored solution to store the electricity they produce and use it when it is needed most.
Batteries are a key part of the solution. However, the unique requirements of developing countries’ grids are not yet fully considered in the current market for battery storage—even though these countries may have the largest potential for battery deployment.
Global demand for battery storage is expected to reach 2,800 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2040—the equivalent of storing a little more than half of all the renewable energy generated today around the world in a day. Power systems around the world will need exponentially more storage capacity by 2050 to integrate even more solar and wind energy into the electricity grid.
Watch the video explainer by Innovate4Climate (I4C), the World Bank Group’s flagship event on climate change solutions, on the challenges and opportunities of battery storage technology in the fight against climate change.
This year’s I4C Summit will have a priority focus on battery storage, helping to identify ways to overcome the technology, policy and financing barriers to deploy batteries widely and close the global energy storage gap.
