2030
The price of lithium-ion batteries has fallen below $350 per kilowatt-hour, down by more than two-thirds since 2010, and could fall below $100 per kWh within a decade. The stunning drop means global battery storage capacity could rise from one gigawatt-hour today to 250 gigawatt-hours by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Reliable, affordable battery storage makes solar and wind viable as baseload electricity sources.
The report forecasts that renewables will double to 36 percent of the global energy mix in 2030. European grid operators already get 30 to 70 percent of their power from “variable” sources. Some experts argue that shifting solar and wind subsidies to storage technologies would drive even faster growth.
