How Battery Costs May Win Out Over Conventional Generation

The flow of analysis about battery storage from big-end investment banks continues apace.  Last week it was HSBC and Citigroup with ground-breaking reports – which we wrote about here and here. UBS also jumped in on the act too.

Why is this so?  Well, according to UBS, interest from both investors and corporates has accelerated in recent months.  That’s because the big end of town is suddenly alive to the opportunities of a technology that will likely be even more disruptive than solar.  And the key is in the forecast on costs.

Citigroup last week cited $230/kWh as the key mark where battery storage wins out over conventional generation and puts the fossil fuel incumbents into terminal decline.

UBS, in a report based around a discussion with Navigant research, says the $230/kWh mark will be reached by the broader market within two to three years, and will likely fall to 100/kWh.

And it predicts that the market for battery storage will grow 50-fold by 2020, mostly in helping households and businesses consumer more of their solar output, but also at grid scale and with electric vehicles.

Read More of How Battery Costs May Win Out Over Conventional Generation