lithium-ion batteries most competitive for storage energy in the future

"We have found that lithium_ion batteries are following in the footsteps of crystalline silicon solar panels," says senior author Iain Staffell, a lecturer at the college's Centre for Environmental Policy. "Lithium_ion batteries were once expensive and suited only to niche applications, but they are now being manufactured in such volumes, their costs are coming down much faster than the competing storage technologies."

The model, which incorporates data from more than 30 peer_reviewed studies, shows that at present, the cheapest energy storage‍ mechanism is pumped_storage hydroelectricity, where water is pumped to a higher elevation with spare energy, then released to harvest the energy when needed. However, as time progresses, pumped-storage hydroelectricity costs do not decrease, whereas lithium-ion battery costs come down, making them the cheapest option for most applications from 2030.

"Personally, I was always quite skeptical toward lithium_ion storage for stationary applications, but when it comes to the levelized cost of storage -- investment, operation and charging cost, technology lifetime, efficiency and performance degradation_ lithium_ion combines decreasing cost with sufficient performance to dominate the majority of power system applications," says first author Oliver Schmidt, a PhD researcher at Imperial and founder of Storage Lab. "I would have expected others to outperform in certain applications."

He adds that the model doesn't say anything about whether lithium-ion batteries are the best suited technology for  stationary storage, but_because it has such a head start in the market, it is best poised to be the cheapest option in the immediate future. The researchers can't predict how new materials or advances will impact the market, but they hope their model, which is available open access to test a variety of technology cost and performance assumptions, can help industry and policymakers make informed investment decisions today.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.