Calculation of the cost per kilowatt-hour of energy storage system

How do you calculate energy storage costs?

To calculate the true energy storage costs (as against up-front price point) and benefits of any battery system, calculate the obtainable lifetime hours in watt and include the other costs connected with setting up operation and replacement eventually.

Why do we use units of $/kWh?

We use the units of $/kWh because that is the most common way that battery system costs have been expressed in published material to date. The $/kWh costs we report can be converted to $/kW costs simply by multiplying by the duration (e.g., a $300/kWh, 4-hour battery would have a power capacity cost of $1200/kW).

How do you convert kWh costs to kW costs?

The $/kWh costs we report can be converted to $/kW costs simply by multiplying by the duration (e.g., a $300/kWh, 4-hour battery would have a power capacity cost of $1200/kW). To develop cost projections, storage costs were normalized to their 2020 value such that each projection started with a value of 1 in 2020.

How are battery energy storage costs forecasted?

Forecast procedures are described in the main body of this report. C&C or engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) costs can be estimated using the footprint or total volume and weight of the battery energy storage system (BESS). For this report, volume was used as a proxy for these metrics.

What factors should you consider when buying an energy storage system?

Another factor to consider is operating and maintenance costs. The cost of an energy storage system is not final when you purchase it—there are also the costs involved in keeping it up and running. These can be high, especially for certain batteries which require frequent maintenance.

How do you calculate power and energy?

The breakdown of power and energy is derived from Feldman et al. (2021) as described in the methods section. These components are combined to give a total system cost, where the system cost (in $/kWh) is the power component divided by the duration plus the energy component. Figure 5.