general electric aims big in energy storage after battery step back - electrical energy storage systems

(Reuters)-
GE wants to be a "considerable" player in the system market where storage energy is used to manage power fluctuations, and the company expects the industry to double by 2020, the head of GE's energy storage business, which reached $6 billion, told Reuters.
The demand for industrial battery systems is driven by the increasing reliance on intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar energy and the potential to quickly add energy to the grid as demand for electricity surges.
The demand attracted a number of companies, including Elon Musk's Tesla Motor Company, which said in April it planned to pack batteries for utilities, homes and businesses.
"We believe in space and its ability to grow," GE Energy Storage general manager Jeff Wyatt said in a recent interview . ".
"We think we can be a pretty big player in it, and that's exactly what we're going to do.
"In the past year, GE has completely changed its attitude towards the energy storage market because it has seen a weak demand for the batteries it has developed.
Now Fairfield, Connecticut.
GE-based companies are repositioning themselves.
One stop shop for power producers seeking to install energy storage systems, offer inverters, control systems, software and financing options.
Earlier this year, it scaled back production of its own Durathon industrial batteries, reducing the manufacturing labor force at the battery manufacturing plant Schenectady from 200 to 50.
The company is committed to improving the life of Durathon, including managing its chemical degradation.
As part of its new energy storage package, GE offers customers the option to install lithium
Ion batteries produced by other companies.
Despite the temptation of battery systems, experts say their fees are a major factor in preventing power operators from using them more widely.
Tom Weaver, distribution planning manager at AEP, said the US power company has not invested in an important energy storage facility since 2010 because it is not clear whether the benefits exceed the cost.
"Energy storage is the answer to many questions that need answers in the long run, but costs have to be reduced," Weaver said . ".
Since April, GE has reached two agreements with lithium-ion batteries in California and Ontario, Canada, to supply energy storage projects, and Wyatt said the company intends to announce similar agreements this year.
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According to Cosmin Laslau, a senior analyst at Lux Research, as many as 20 important companies are competing for deals, including large energy competitors such as Siemens, ABB Co. , Ltd. and AES.
There are as many as 10 major battery manufacturers, let alone many startups chasing the energy storage business, Laslau said.
"At this scale, GE is by no means the only supplier in the industry," Laslau said . ".
"But their strategy is much better than in the past.
General Electric will consider a takeover to drive its new strategy, but General Electric said
Because it can use the relationships it has built in the energy industry, it is positioning itself.
The storage business is part of GE's renewable energy sector, in the group's largest industrial sector-the power and water sector, which is about $28 billion.
"We think we have competitive products," said Wyatt . ".
"We think we can develop and gain share in it.
There will be a lot of players in this space, but we think we are good --
Positioning itself in competition and business development.
"Retail energy and services company Direct energy, a division of UK Central Utilities, is running pilot energy storage projects with commercial and residential customers and regards GE as a potential partner, cory bizeski, vice president and general manager of Direct Energy Services at GE, said if GE decided to expand to such a smaller project.
"This is such an emerging space and it's too early to identify winners and losers," Byzewski said . ". GE is “a well-
"Well-known companies have excellent balance sheets, so they have the same right to win as anyone," he added . ".