Competing in the energy storage track

Are energy-storage systems dropping too fast for inefficient players to hide?

The authors wish to thank Jesse Noffsinger, Matt Rogers, Frederic Saggini, Giulia Siccardo, Willem van Schalkwyk, and Amy Wagner for their contributions to this article. The costs of energy-storage systems are dropping too fast for inefficient players to hide.

Will energy-storage companies win big?

As the market evolves, we expect a relatively small set of energy-storage companies to win big, taking share away from less cost-effective rivals. In this article, we look at how the cost profile of energy-storage systems is changing and what companies in the sector can do to boost their chances of success.

Can technology improve energy-storage costs?

There is also a plausible best-in-class scenario in which market-leading energy-storage manufacturers and developers deliver a step change in cost improvement: additional process-efficiency gains and hardware innovations could reduce the cost of an installed system by more than 70 percent (Exhibit 2).

Can energy storage help decarbonize power systems?

This work provides insights into the role of energy storage in decarbonizing power systems and informs future research and policy decisions. There is no one-size-fits-all energy storage, but rather an ideal combination of multiple energy storage options designed and operated in symbiosis.

Why is China promoting energy storage at the 2025 two sessions?

The buzzword “energy storage” at the 2025 Two Sessions underscores China’s strategic focus on building a resilient, sustainable, and diverse energy system, contributing new efforts to a sustainable global future. The country’s progress in new-type energy storage highlights how innovation can drive both economic and environmental progress worldwide.

Can system-value evaluation be applied to energy storage technologies in Africa?

The article applies a systematic deployment analysis method that enables system-value evaluation in perfect competitive markets and demonstrates its application to 20 different energy storage technologies across 40 distinct scenarios for a representative future power system in Africa.