Are battery storage costs based on long-term planning models?

Battery storage costs have evolved rapidly over the past several years, necessitating an update to storage cost projections used in long-term planning models and other activities. This work documents the development of these projections, which are based on recent publications of storage costs.

Does battery storage cost reduce over time?

The projections are developed from an analysis of recent publications that include utility-scale storage costs. The suite of publications demonstrates wide variation in projected cost reductions for battery storage over time.

What are battery cost projections for 4 hour lithium-ion systems?

Battery cost projections for 4-hour lithium-ion systems, with values normalized relative to 2022. The high, mid, and low cost projections developed in this work are shown as bolded lines. Figure ES-2.

When will battery cost projections be updated?

In 2019, battery cost projections were updated based on publications that focused on utility-scale battery systems (Cole and Frazier 2019), with updates published in 2020 (Cole and Frazier 2020) and 2021 (Cole, Frazier, and Augustine 2021). There was no update published in 2022.

Are lithium-ion batteries still economical?

Lithium-ion batteries are still the most economical solution for most situations, even without considering their trend downward pricing trend, but it takes a village, as they say- and ours should be doing all it can to ensure storage stays an economical solution for the foreseeable future.

How much does a 4 hour battery system cost?

Figure ES-2 shows the overall capital cost for a 4-hour battery system based on those projections, with storage costs of $245/kWh, $326/kWh, and $403/kWh in 2030 and $159/kWh, $226/kWh, and $348/kWh in 2050.