b'22 Partner News Autumn 2023EnterpriseAre home andAlmost everyone now accepts that mass energy storage is essential for balancing the grid, as more and more intermittent renewables come online, but while the UK EV batteriesdebate is focused on the need for industrial and utility-scale batteries plus hydrogenstill a tiny but growing proportion of our energy storage requirementsGermany sees things differently. They include domestic and the keys toelectric vehicle (EV) batteries as part of their overall energy picture.According to RWTH Aachen University, Germany had 72GWh of installed battery balancingstorage at the end of 2022, including 65GWh in EVs and 5.2GWh in domestic batteries. Both markets are growing rapidly. Industrial and utility-scale batteries lag way behind at the grid?less than 2GWh, although this sector is also expanding fast.The bottom line is that Germany regards its total installed battery capacity as part of its national energy strategyan enormous resource that can be used intelligently to integrate renewables, flatten spikes in demand, reduce energy bills and cut carbon By Fundamentals emissions.'