By Isabella Kaminski

According to a new report by BCC Research, Utility-Scale Electricity Storage Technologies: Global Markets, international sales of UES technology totalled US$3.9 billion in 2010.

Sales of UES technology are predicted to rise to $18.5b in 2015, after increasing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.6%.

UES is the process of capturing significant amounts of excess electricity, converting it into a storable medium, and converting it back into electricity when it is needed. Electricity plants generally operate at base and peak loads, and it is during these peak-load operating times that UES units are used to lower overall fuel consumption, emissions and generation costs.

According to the report, major short-term driving forces for expansion in the UES market include restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, direct and indirect support for the installation of intermittent renewable sources of power, and infrastructure expansion needed to support further regional economic development.

The report breaks sales down into three regions: Asia/Australia, Europe, and North America. The growth rate is predicted to be highest in North America, where sales amounted to $272m in 2010 and could $6.1b in 2015, a CAGR of 86.2%.

Sales of UES technology in the Asia/Australia region were valued at $2.7b in 2010, and in 2015 could be nearly $7.2b, yielding a CAGR of 21.7%. In the European region, sales were worth nearly $1b in 2010 and could rise to $5.3b in 2015, a CAGR of 41%.