Those who are following the development and rise of solar energy and battery energy storage will have many reasons to rejoice. The cost of traditional lithium-ion batteries, such as those used by laptops and mobile gadgets are getting cheaper as the technology begins to flood the Australian and international markets.
Battery energy storage previously explored by Tesla
For instance, Tesla’s electric car company, and Panasonic, the electronic giant, have been working closely on reducing the costs of their Li-Ion batteries. The ‘gigafactory’ of Tesla has led many companies to expect Li-Ion batteries that will be available at a third of the price of the current ones.
As a result of this recent development, most people in the solar market are entertaining the big idea of putting solar panels on every roof with an affordable battery energy storage in the basement or the backyard and be free of the grid completely.
Battery energy storage integral aspect of solar energy
Batteries are essential for solar power systems for with them a average household can still use solar energy at night, when the sun is already out. However, the biggest obstacle is the high cost of batteries. Thus, only a few are able to afford and use solar power systems with battery energy storage.
But many companies now have a glow in their eyes and are looking at 2015 to be the year when the ‘tipping point’ of solar and battery energy storage will be achieved. This term is being used repeatedly by those intricately involved in the solar market because they say that this intersection point is very near.
Based on data gathered by Navigant Research, Tesla pays around $200 per kWh for its battery cells made by Panasonic. But this price could easily fall to $130 by 2020 when Tesla’s huge lithium-Ion battery factory becomes fully operational.
Advances in battery energy storage will bring consumer cost way down
This factory will pull the price of battery energy storage way down because it will more than double the production of Li-Ion batteries.
About seven years ago, battery energy storage cost as much as $1,000 per kWh. With its projected production capacity, Tesla plans to sell the batteries it produces to the power grid market. In fact, SolarCity already uses Tesla batteries for a solar panel energy storage system.
With the consistent drop in the cost of solar energy and with this latest development in battery energy storage, the world is bound to change. For more than a hundred years, people are forced to depend on the grid for their electricity needs. But with the recent technological breakthroughs in the field of solar energy and battery energy storage, over dependence on the grid will eventually become a thing of the past.
Electric utility corporations have had their fill of the profits at the cost of the environment. It appears that now is the most opportune time for solar system installation and affordable battery energy storage.
