Grid-Scale Energy Storage Balance of Systems 2015-2020: Architectures, Costs and Players

Report summary

The value chain and vendor ecosystem for storage projects is ripe for new entrants from other renewable power industries, both in project development and BOS component supply.

Solar PV balance of system (BOS) costs have followed a learning curve, which has benefited storage projects by having an established ecosystem of best practices resulting in manageable BOS costs. Storage projects have experienced diminishing returns in BOS cost reductions (by $/kW magnitude) because they have piggybacked on solar’s progress, but the learning curve dynamics of percentage declines should still hold true for storage. GTM Research predicts that the next five years should see a 40% decline in storage BOS costs to values lower than $400/kW. During this time, the price difference between storage and PV inverters should also compress.

This slide-based report provides an in-depth overview of energy storage BOS, including coverage of grid-scale storage, prototypical cost structure, AC to AC costs, lifetime project cost considerations, BOS suppliers and market forecasts.