Electricity storage investment costs

Are battery electricity storage systems a good investment?

This study shows that battery electricity storage systems offer enormous deployment and cost-reduction potential. By 2030, total installed costs could fall between 50% and 60% (and battery cell costs by even more), driven by optimisation of manufacturing facilities, combined with better combinations and reduced use of materials.

How can electricity storage cost-of-service be reduced?

In the meantime, lower installed costs, longer lifetimes, increased numbers of cycles and improved performance will further drive down the cost of stored electricity services. IRENA has developed a spreadsheet-based “Electricity Storage Cost-of-Service Tool” available for download.

Is electricity storage a cost-effective technology for low-carbon power systems?

Electricity storage is considered a key technology to enable low-carbon power systems. However, existing studies focus on investment cost. The future lifetime cost of different technologies (i.e., levelized cost of storage) that account for all relevant cost and performance parameters are still unexplored.

Is electricity storage an economic solution?

Electricity storage is currently an economic solution of-grid in solar home systems and mini-grids where it can also increase the fraction of renewable energy in the system to as high as 100% (IRENA, 2016c). The same applies in the case of islands or other isolated grids that are reliant on diesel-fired electricity (IRENA, 2016a; IRENA, 2016d).

How long does an energy storage system last?

The 2020 Cost and Performance Assessment analyzed energy storage systems from 2 to 10 hours. The 2022 Cost and Performance Assessment analyzes storage system at additional 24- and 100-hour durations.

What is the future role of stationary electricity storage?

The future role of stationary electricity storage is perceived as highly uncertain. One reason is that most studies into the future cost of storage technologies focus on investment cost. An appropriate cost assessment must be based on the application-specific lifetime cost of storing electricity.