Mr. Markus Hempel

China Director

 
Germany Trade and Invest 

 Experience:

Mr. Markus Hempel is the China Director for Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI). Based in China since 2010, he is the official contact point for Chinese outbound investment into Germany and has advised more than 100 Chinese companies on setting up business in Germany so far, many of them in the PV and energy storage sector.

Prior to joining GTAI, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, AXA and his own consulting company in Paris where he was engaged for client projects in various industries throughout Europe. 

He holds three master degrees with specialization in IT, Economics, Business Administration, and in International Trade and Finance that he obtained during his studies at universities in Germany, France and the USA. 

With 1) falling solar and battery prices and 2) solar photovoltaic (PV) “socket-parity price” in many markets worldwide, PV system owners (and new buyers) will want to maximize their use of self-generated electricity: it’s cheaper than the grid, immune to utility-price inflation, and helps the environment. 

Thus we see a rising need for energy storage, especially for solar battery systems. The presentation will highlight the latest developments in the German PV market which is in particular is arguably the most mature in the world, and currently leads in solar storage: Their installation numbers grew by more than 50% from 2013 to 2014, leading to more than 1,000 units per month currently being installed in German households. Already, 25% of new German PV systems also include storage and the share is constantly rising. PV-battery market growth is still accelerating and expected to be 100% p.a. in the next three years. Around one million PV-battery systems could be retrofitted with batteries in the next ten years, and the same amount could be coming from PV-systems being newly installed in this period. 

Also PV-connected large-scale storage solutions are gaining attention as they are needed to balance the grid. In the last three years, their installed capacity more than quintupled. With other countries like Italy, Spain and Austria having similar market conditions, the stationary storage market in Europe is expected to tenfold by 2018. 

The presentation will explain current industry trends in these markets currently becoming visible in this grid-parity market. as well the profitability of storage solutions from the customer's and operator’s perspective.