Germany’s Battery Storage Capacity Soars To 19 GWh In 2024

After exceeding the 100 GW mark in solar energy production in 2024, Germany has now installed more than 1.8 million storage systems with a total capacity of 19 gigawatt-hours (GWh) at the turn of the year. This is mathematically sufficient to store the average daily electricity consumption of more than two million two-person households in Germany. With this, stationary battery storage systems capacities in Germany continue to grow.

The preliminary annual report by the German Solar Industry Association found, almost 600,000 new battery storage systems were put into operation in 2024. This includes both home, commercial, and large-scale storage systems. Both the number and capacity of all solar storage systems installed in Germany increased by almost 50 percent within a year.

Battery Storage Market Growth

The association found that the solar home storage systems installed in the country also grew by around 580,000 to around 1.8 million last year. In total, battery storage systems with a capacity of around 15.4 GWh are installed in private homes. Whereas, the newly installed home storage capacity, including expected late registrations, declined slightly by seven percent in 2024 after several years of strong growth. The newly installed capacity of commercial storage grew significantly, increasing by 26 percent last year. The total number of commercial storage systems installed in Germany thus rose by more than 60 percent within just one year to now over 38,000 storage systems with a total storage capacity of almost 1.4 GWh.

The strongest growth dynamics are currently seen in large-scale storage facilities, each with a capacity of over 1 MWh. Around 100 new large-scale storage facilities with a capacity of around 0.8 GWh went into operation in 2024, which corresponds to a doubling of the expansion compared to the previous year (0.3 GWh). The installed large-scale storage capacity has now increased to almost 2.3 GWh.

Storage Capacity On The Rise

All data in this preliminary annual report is based on an evaluation of the market master data register of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) and on empirical values ​​for expected late reports from previous years.  At a comparable point in time last year, this was around 11 percent of the home storage units registered with the BNetzA up to that point, around 19 percent of the commercial storage units registered up to that point, and around 7 percent of the large storage units registered up to that point. This market behavior, which was also observed in previous years, is therefore included in the association’s current projections. According to current market forecasts, the installed capacity of large battery storage facilities could increase fivefold in the next two years.

“Storage is the fastest, cheapest, and most effective instrument for integrating solar energy into the electricity market and the electricity grid. A rapid expansion of storage capacity is an important key to the success of the energy transition,” said Carsten Körnig, General Manager of the German Solar Industry Association. In this context, it is important to remove further market barriers in the next legislative period, to speed up approval procedures, and to give appropriate consideration to the role of storage in upcoming reforms of the electricity market design and grid charges.