The cost of electricity from wind solar and energy storage

Can energy storage improve solar and wind power?

With the falling costs of solar PV and wind power technologies, the focus is increasingly moving to the next stage of the energy transition and an energy systems approach, where energy storage can help integrate higher shares of solar and wind power.

Can wind and solar energy halve electricity costs?

Meeting demand with other sources during 5% of hours can halve electricity costs Wind and solar energy can produce decarbonized electricity, but to reliably meet demand these intermittent resources require other technologies such as energy storage, supplemental generation, demand management, and transmission expansion.

How much does a storage energy capacity cost?

We estimate that cost-competitively meeting baseload demand 100% of the time requires storage energy capacity costs below $20/kWh. If other sources meet demand 5% of the time, electricity costs fall and the energy capacity cost target rises to $150/kWh.

How much does energy capacity cost?

Ranges of storage power capacity costs ($0–$2,000/kW) and energy capacity costs ($0–$300/kWh) were used as simulation inputs, in order to cover a variety of cost combinations for current and potential future technologies.

How does energy storage affect the selling price of solar energy?

The average selling price without storage is lower for wind than solar, but as the energy storage increases in size (per unit rated power of solar or wind generation), the pricing distribution and mean selling price become increasingly similar across the two energy resources (Supplementary Figs 6–8).

What is the power to energy cost trade-off of storage technologies?

The power to energy cost trade-off of storage technologies is also similar across the two energy resources. This means that the direction of optimal improvement in energy and power costs is similar across the three locations and two energy resources for any given storage technology.