* Battery market still small but growing fast
* Stuck at home in pandemic, consumers buy gadgets
* Only few players have global supply offering
By Vera Eckert and Christoph Steitz
FRANKFURT, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell-owned
German solar battery maker sonnen expects to expand in
line with its core market, which is growing fast as people look
to move away from fossil fuels.
Oliver Koch, who became chief executive in September, said
sonnen's batteries, which are mainly aimed at homeowners with
solar photovoltaic systems, allowing them to store their power
output for later use, held big potential.
"We are growing at the same speed as the overall
marketplace. The German market is expected to expand by 30% this
year and we will not want to lose any market share," he said,
adding sonnen's share amounted to 20%," Koch told Reuters.
Globally, the company's competitors include South Korea's LG
Chem and Tesla.
Independent market research cited by sonnen shows there were
180,000-200,000 batteries installed in Germany in early 2020,
with sales having more than doubled in two years.
New battery sales in 2020 could have hit 70,000-80,000, when
120,000 households installed solar for the first time.
Germany already has 2 million rooftop photovoltaic systems
as the country moves away from fossil fuels for its energy needs
and there is scope for many more as there are a total 15 million
detached and semi-detached buildings.
Homeowners were focusing on gadgets and energy optimisation,
with many stuck at home during the coronavirus crisis and
discovering that battery prices were falling.
Customers were also expecting to put batteries to use
charging electric cars and heat pumps, an area where utilities
are active and oil majors want to gain access, Koch said.
Koch said sonnen, which has sales totalling several hundred
million euros number and employs 750 people, had so far sold
60,000 batteries around the world. Apart from Germany, sonnen is
also active in the United States, Australia, Britain and France.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Christoph Steitz, editing by
Alexander Smith)
