Despite the late start of a new subsidy scheme and the changed framework conditions the German market for solar energy storage products showed a distinctive growth within the first 6 months in 2016 compared to the previous year.
Decreasing system prices and increasing offerings for storage solutions of domestic as well as foreign companies pushed the sales figures in Germany. Tesla and Mercedes Benz Energy, in particular, have made a decisive contribution with strong end-customer marketing; but this is not yet reflected in current sales figures.
In the first half 2016 around 60 companies offered storage solutions to German end customers. All in all more than 12,700 solar energy storage systems were sold within the first half of 2016. For the full year 2016 EuPD Research expects an ongoing growth, reaching 23,000 (worst case scenario) to 25,000 (best case scenario) storage systems in Germany. Compared to last year the sales market in Germany will increase by around 40% in 2016.
According to a recent analysis by EuPD Research, sonnen was the largest solar battery provider in the first half of 2016 with around 3,300 systems sold and a resulting market share of 27%. In second place the German-based company Deutsche Energieversorgung (SENEC) achieved a market share of 19%, followed by E3/DC (10%), LG Chem (9%) and Solarwatt (6%).
However, German companies not only show a strong presence in their domestic market. The analysis shows that in growing markets like the USA and Australia the German market leader sonnen for example has a strong position as well with a market share of 17 and 13 percent respectively. In sum, sonnen holds a cumulated market share of 23 percent across Europe, the USA and Australia in the first half of 2016, followed by LG Chem and Deutsche Energieversorgung (SENEC).
The strong position of German companies can be deduced to their dominance in the German market. US companies in contrast cannot hold the position that they have in their domestic market on an international level.
“The international presence of German companies shows that they react to country-specific requirements and provide high-quality products at affordable prices. Coming from the European market, our analysis makes evident that they are already very well established in non-European countries as well.,” Dr. Martin Ammon, Head of Energy Industry Centre at EuPD Research, concluded.