But as interest in energy storage technologies continues to increase, it will create new opportunities for TES and lead to steady growth, according to a report from Pike Research. Pike estimates installed TES capacity will nearly triple in the U.S., from 2.7 GW in 2011 to 7.2 GW in 2020.

But the strongest growth, Pike predicts, will be in Europe due to the European Union's heavy emphasis on energy efficiency and what it calls the rise in volatile renewable electricity generation.

“With the exception of pumped hydroelectric storage, which dwarfs the installed capacity of all other commercially available energy storage technologies, TES is currently the most common form of storage available,” says Pike research director Kerry-Ann Adamson. “Although other storage media, especially batteries, are expected to grow significantly faster than TES, TES revenue will continue to increase with global revenue from new TES installations forecast to surpass $3.5 billion by 2020.”

Read more about Pike's report: Thermal Energy Storage

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