Energy storage battery information website

Why is battery storage important?

Batteries are an important part of the global energy system today and are poised to play a critical role in secure clean energy transitions. In the transport sector, they are the essential component in the millions of electric vehicles sold each year. In the power sector, battery storage is the fastest growing clean energy technology on the market.

What are energy storage systems?

Energy storage systems allow energy consumption to be separated in time from the production of energy, whether it be electrical or thermal energy. The storing of electricity typically occurs in chemical (e.g., lead acid batteries or lithium-ion batteries, to name just two of the best known) or mechanical means (e.g., pumped hydro storage).

Are battery electricity storage systems a good investment?

Battery electricity storage systems offer enormous deployment and cost-reduction potential, according to the IRENA study on Electricity storage and renewables: Costs and markets to 2030.

Are lithium-ion batteries a good choice for energy storage?

Lithium-ion batteries are being widely deployed in vehicles, consumer electronics, and more recently, in electricity storage systems. These batteries have, and will likely continue to have, relatively high costs per kWh of electricity stored, making them unsuitable for long-duration storage that may be needed to support reliable decarbonized grids.

What is included in the battery storage update?

This battery storage update includes summary data and visualizations on the capacity of large-scale battery storage systems by region and ownership type, battery storage co-located systems, applications served by battery storage, battery storage installation costs, and small-scale battery storage trends.

Can Li-ion batteries be used for energy storage?

The first batteries were used for consumer electronics and now, building on the success of these Li-ion batteries, many companies are developing larger-format cells for use in energy-storage applications. Many also expect there to be significant synergies with the emergence of electric vehicles (EVs) powered by Li-ion batteries.