Establishing the value of community energy storage: a comparative analysis of the UK and Germany

Both UK and Germany have committed to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change. In the past decade, a surge of residential solar and storage applications has been accelerated by subsidies, cost reduction of the system and increasing energy prices. Many advantages of community energy storage have been identified and its applications have been widely investigated. However, its profitability is still questionable, and more work is needed to improve its accessibility. Here we compare and contrast community energy storage using lithium-ion batteries in the UK and Germany – two countries with different solar profiles and different electricity tariffs. Results indicate that the primary impacting factor on self-sufficiency is the solar generation, meaning that communities in Germany can be up to 30% more self-sufficient than their UK counterparts. Additionally, the profitability of households in Germany is also higher (achieving a simple payback time of less than 10 years) due to the subsidies for storage and on-site generation. The results highlight the importance of using a location-specific approach for system planning. For example, households in Germany should aim to fully exploit on-site generation, whilst UK households should improve generation output, for example by using a hybrid PV plus wind turbine system. In addition, more financial and regulatory support is needed in the UK to improve project feasibility.