Battery prices will go down as per BNEF

Lithium-ion batteries could witness a drop in prices as per the ‘Long-Term Energy Storage Outlook’ released recently by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). As per the report, battery prices could go down by 52 per cent between 2018 and 2030, coupled with the rise of electric vehicles market. Expected to drive the global energy storage market growth to a cumulative 857 GWh by 2040 (it isat 198 GWh), the price of a 250 kWh electric bus battery pack, for instance, could fall from USD 150,000 in 2016 to USD 38,000 in 2030. The study anticipates an investment of USD 1.2 trillion to be made in the energy storage market by 2040. According to Yayoi Sekine, an energy storage analyst for BloombergNEF and co-author of the report, the fall in storage systems cost will be faster than expected. Sekine credits it to electric vehicle charging and energy access in remote regions. According to Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at BNEF, energy storage is growing to a point where it is equivalent to seven per cent of the total installed power capacity globally in 2040. The majority of storage capacity will be utility-scale until the mid2030s when behind the meter applications overtake. Behind The Meter (BTM) installations will be cited at business and industrial premises, and at millions of residential properties. For their owners, they will perform a variety of tasks, including shifting grid demand in order to reduce electricity costs, storing excess rooftop solar output, improving power quality and reliability, and earning fees for helping to smoothen voltage on the grid. China, US, India, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, South Korea and the UK are expected to be the leading countries. They are expected to account for two thirds of the installed capacity by 2040. In the near-term, South Korea will dominate the market. The US will take over in the early 2020s, but will be overtaken by China in the latter 2020s. China will then lead throughout to 2040. Developing countries in Africa will also see rapid growth in battery storage, the study outlook expects.