The rise of the urban population in different countries stimulates energy demand day by day. Overall cylindrical battery demand will increase 32% YoY from 882 million to 1171 million (figure 1); energy storage market will also grow from 40MWh in 2010 to 1850MWh in 2020 (CAGR: 50%), according to a research by EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce.

If energy consumption continues to follow the same cost pattern and fail to cope with the spirit of sustainability, the greenhouse gas concentration in 2050 may grow one times higher than that in 2012. By then, climate change will be more severe. That’s why countries have been encouraging the use of green energies, including energy subsidy policies or industrial regulations, leading to booming energy industry development. On the other hand, like mentioned before, energy storage market will grow from 40MWh in 2010 to 1850MWh in 2020 (CAGR: 50%), according to a research by EnergyTrend. In fact, people’s general impression of energy storage systems in the past were power banks, thus energy storage systems were mostly used in industrial sector. However, due to the wide use of renewable energy and higher request for energy efficiency nowadays, energy storage systems have started to be used in residential and architectural markets. The following are the market-driven factors for the energy storage market – dramatic increase in the use of electricity, rising electricity prices, higher request for energy efficiency, and lower energy storage costs. From the supports of both supply and demand side, the development of renewable energy will focus more on energy storage systems from 2016 to 2020. In addition, green industry will become an indicator for sustainable development under the downtrend of gross margin in IT industry.

【Figure 1】Cylindrical Battery Supply and Demand Analysis

Source: EnergyTrend

LEV and BEV markets have also become more popular following the rise of environmental awareness. Cylindrical battery demand within mobile carriers will increase 30% YoY from 111 million in 2014 to 145 million in 2015, according to EnergyTrend’s statistic of 4Q14 (figure 2). Hence, it’s a perfect timing for battery cell manufacturers to enter the LEV/BEV markets because fewer cells will be needed in IT sector as IT will put more emphasis on ultra-thin products. Meanwhile, power tools have stricter requests for product life time due to the higher power outputs, leading to stably increasing power tool market development. Yet, the number of cells used in power tool markets may begin to reduce as well because of increasing battery capacity. Overall battery demand in power tool market may remain flat at 220 million in 2015, according to EnergyTrend’s investigation in 1Q15.

【Figure 2】Power Tool Market Development

Source: EnergyTrend