Electricity prices are increasing, and so is the demand for storage systems: This year, 170 exhibitors in the product group energy storage have registered at Intersolar Europe. Most of them will present their products from 19th to 21st June in hall B5. Furthermore, in various expert's lectures and panel discussions, topics such as self consumption and storage solutions for residential or industrial buildings will be discussed.

In Germany, the world's largest PV market, electricity prices have risen sharply in the past years, rendering it a major political issue. The situation is similar in Italy, the world's second largest PV market. "The electricity price here is between 19 and 25 euro cent", shares Giuseppe Sofia, managing director of Conergy Italia, "and there is a strong upward trend. Solar energy produced on a consumer's own roof costs between 12 and 16 euro cent, depending on the region, the irradiation, construction costs, and financing."

„This development has caused a strong interest in storage solutions in both markets", says Michael Wieser, sales director at Neovoltaic, a leading developer of storage solutions. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems calculated that, by using a PV-storage-combination, a typical household can reduce its dependency on the public grid by up to 60%. Storage systems for PV are the latest trend, and the market for such systems is still new. Two technologies dominate the market: systems with lead-acid and lead-gel batteries, which have both been around for many years; and new promising systems with long-lasting lithium-ion batteries. As of now, not too many storage systems have been sold yet, say Markus Hoehner, managing director at EuPD Research. He is convinced, though, that this will soon change, since the main motive for installing PV systems today is self-consumption.