Revenues from thin-film batteries to reach almost $900 million by 2016

GLEN ALLEN, USA: NanoMarkets has just issued its latest report on the thin-film battery market and in the report the firm predicts that the business will create almost $900 million in revenues in the year 2016.

The report, "Thin-Film Batteries: A New Market Opportunity Assessment - 2011," also projects that the value of products containing thin-film batteries will reach approximately $14 billion by 2016.

This report is part of NanoMarkets' ongoing coverage of novel energy storage solutions. In August, the company will publish an analysis of the printed battery market and an assessment of new materials developments for Li-ion batteries will follow in September.

Findings from the report
* The high energy densities of thin-film batteries combined with energy harvesting devices promise a power source for remote sensing devices that almost literally never needs to be recharged or replaced. As a result, NanoMarkets expect the sensor market to be the largest application for thin-film batteries, with consumption of thin-film batteries by this sector reaching around $400 million by 2016. Sensors for smart grids, military sensors and wireless sensor networks are seen as providing particular opportunity for thin-film battery manufacturers in the near future.

* Although thin-film batteries may prove too expensive for powering garden variety smartcards, NanoMarkets believes that there are significant niches in the smartcard market to support significant sales of thin-film batteries. For example, biometric ID cards are expected to have longer product lives than the average credit card and therefore need power sources that themselves are long-lived. As a result, consumption of thin-film batteries by the smartcard sector is expected to reach around $280 million by 2011.

* Thin-film battery manufacturers are looking for ways to increase their attractiveness to potential investors through expanded addressable markets or by creating value-added products. Thus, Planar Energy Devices sees itself competing against conventional lithium ion batteries in a broad range of applications while Cymbet and IPS see new opportunities from battery/energy harvesting products combos.