While there is general consensus to use levelised cost of energy (LCOE) for comparing different energy generation technologies, such as solar parks, wind farms and coal plants, there is no universally applied metric for calculating the cost of energy storage. As a result, the assessment of costs for different energy storage solutions can become a tough exercise for all stakeholders: storage system manufacturers have a hard time explaining cost advantages over their competition, investors struggle with making an educated decision for financing and end users do not know which energy storage solution is most economical in the targeted application.
In this article, we will examine what to consider for calculating meaningful, comparable ESS costs.