What’s behind the 900% growth in energy storage in Q2 2015
The U.S. energy storage market remains on track for a record-setting year, and due to increasing economies of scale and technology advances, costs are coming down, promising still greater things further down the road.
The median price for utility-scale systems in the first quarter of 2015 was $900 per kWh, and that price didn’t fall significantly in the second quarter. But, the low end of the price range went from $800 per kWh in Q1 to $750 per kWh last quarter, explained Senior Energy Storage Analyst Ravi Manghani, lead author on GTM Research’s quarterly energy storage monitor. The report, prepared along with the Energy Storage Association, was released last week.
“When the low end of the range goes down,” Manghani said, “it is an indication the rest of the market will follow.”
The downward trend in costs is being pushed by batteries themselves, but a variety of factors is putting pressure on system prices across the value chain, Manghani said.
Tesla’s April announcement that it would produce batteries at $250 per kWh is pushing other battery manufacturers, Manghani said. “They see that as the magic number to get to.”
Tesla and other manufacturers are not likely to get to that price point this year, Manghani said, but it will come in the near future.
