🔋 Battery storage doubled in 2024 – as much as in all previous history

• The world installed over 160 gigawatt-hours of new battery storage in 2024, nearly as much as in all recorded history.
• The cost of battery storage fell by 40 percent last year, and facilities now cost around 60 dollars per kilowatt-hour in China.
• Analysis shows that battery storage globally could reach 100–180 terawatt-hours in the long term, three to six times more than current forecasts.

Rapid growth in the battery market

Installations of battery storage nearly double every year. In 2024, over 160 gigawatt-hours of new capacity were installed globally. That is nearly as much as in all previous recorded history combined, writes Ember.

As volume increases, costs continue to fall. Prices dropped by 40 percent in 2024. Recent tender results from China show turnkey costs for stationary storage at approximately 60 dollars per kilowatt-hour. Similar prices are seen in India and Saudi Arabia, indicating that prices continue to fall sharply in 2025. This represents a tenfold lower cost compared to typical battery prices just seven years ago.

Improved quality and lifespan

The quality of battery storage has also developed. Modern systems are nearly "plug-and-play" for power grids, reducing installation time and costs. Lifespan has increased, with some systems warranted for up to 20 years. Fire risk has been minimized, and sodium-ion batteries that do not use critical minerals are beginning to be used more widely.

Lower costs drive further installation

A positive cycle has been established. Lower costs lead to faster installation, which in turn drives costs down further through learning and economies of scale.

Storage throughout the system

Previous energy forecasts have tended to model only the minimum required to balance power grids, typically 30–40 terawatt-hours globally in the long term. But this perspective misses two important factors: resilience and convenience.

When refrigerators became affordable, businesses and households began buying their own units for greater flexibility. They were installed throughout the supply chain – from farms and distribution centers to stores and homes. The same logic applies to batteries. As costs fall, they appear everywhere: at solar parks, substations, businesses, and homes.

Energy analyst Gerard Reid speaks of "the batterization of everything." If each device can operate independently for a while, households can smooth out their own demand in real time, balancing loads not just across the grid but within the house itself.

Extensive potential

Calculations show how quickly this can grow. If utilities pair each kilowatt of solar power with one to two kilowatt-hours of storage, grid operators install a few hours of storage at each substation, homeowners maintain 20–30 kilowatt-hour systems, and factories keep a few dozen megawatt-hours for backup, the totals become large.

With approximately 20 terawatts of solar power, 500,000 substations, 3 billion households, and one million large factories globally, that would yield around 100–180 terawatt-hours of stationary storage in the long term. The manufacturing capacity required for this is already being built. Global battery production is on track to reach twice as much as even the most ambitious IEA forecasts show for 2030.

Reduced need for overcapacity in power grids

Before refrigeration, fresh food had to reach markets every day. This made supply chains vulnerable and inefficient. Special "milk trains" rushed into cities like New York every morning to deliver dairy products before they spoiled. New rail lines were built to handle this daily rush.

When refrigeration spread, goods could be stored near both suppliers and consumers and shipped off-peak. The need for maximum transport capacity decreased, and much of the overbuilt network was gradually abandoned or repurposed.

Electricity follows a similar pattern. Today's power grid depends on long-distance transmission because supply must meet demand directly. This means transport capacity is built to meet the highest peak loads, even though they only occur a few hours per day or even per year.

As storage expands, this urgency decreases. Power can be moved in time, not just in space. Batteries smooth out the system by storing energy where convenient and allowing transport to spread to off-peak times.

Production and storage support each other

A common argument is that storage destroys its own market. The more storage that is built, the less prices fluctuate, and the less profitable each storage project becomes. The same is said about solar power: the more panels installed, the more oversupply and low prices when the sun shines, and thus lower revenues for all solar farms.

But production and storage follow different economics. Production benefits from price stability while storage profits from volatility. This makes them natural complements.

When solar power expands, midday prices collapse, creating the arbitrage opportunity that makes batteries profitable. When these batteries are built, they flatten prices again, enabling even more solar power. Meanwhile, both solar power and batteries continue to become cheaper as they scale up, meaning they can operate under progressively lower prices and thinner arbitrage opportunities.

The market will change

Many of today's electricity markets trade in hourly and 15-minute intervals. This structure exists not by preference but by necessity – supply and demand must match directly because storage has long been limited.

As storage expands, this constraint eases. Markets that were once cleared every hour will be cleared over days or even weeks instead, with prices reflecting time-shifting rather than immediate balancing.

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