How Coronavirus Will Impact U.S. BTM Storage

The Wood Mackenzie storage team just shared some new research on how coronavirus is going to impact the behind-the-meter storage market. Our basic message: Developers should be concerned and plan any projects today with wiggle room on delivery timeline.

Here are a three key highlights from our new research insight on COVID-19 and BTM storage:

1)   Developers in the BTM storage and solar-plus-storage markets have noted that commissioning and interconnection are an especially urgent issue right now.

Travel bans and shelter-in-place orders present in certain areas create significant hurdles for late-stage project implementation which requires on-site personnel.

2)   Product supply remains less of an issue today, however that could change in the coming weeks.

North American developers are not currently concerned with battery supply. Delays have been on the order of weeks, rather than months, for product delivery.

However, a delay of even a few days for product delivery can cause reverberations on the commissioning/interconnection side. We’re watching this space closely.

3)   And the behind-the-meter storage is still on track to grow this year in absolute terms — just not as quickly as previously estimated.

We estimate that the BTM segment will install 31 percent less capacity in 2020 than previously forecast.

The full insight goes into more detail about what’s happening in BTM storage right now. If you’re a WoodMac client, you can access the full research via the client portal; if not purchase it here in our report store.

Our good friend Julian Spector and Greentech Media wrote about the research in an article on Friday (here).

We’ll be putting out more research on this, so keep an eye out for updates on Wood Mackenzie and Greentech Media.