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Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

pv-magazine-usa.com

11–20 of 226 posts

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#11

$33 per MWh for solar. What is it for coal or natural gas? Maybe half that?

$100+ meh for natural gas. Solar and battery is so cheap that arab countries are now building large solar and battery systems to save money instead of burning oil and gas. Where as in the US the other big oil and gas producer wholesale electricity prices for Natural Gas is around $100-150 mwh which is cheaper than coal and the major reason coal got pushed out. Then we have China and India where coal is around $40-50 mwh.

So solar and batteries are now cheaper than all other forms of energy/electricity the only problem is finance for poor countries as you need to spend for all the 15-20 years of electricity in one go where as for coal and gas you will spend the same amount over 10-15 years. For rich countries the problem is mostly protectionism as cheap energy would destroy a lot of wealth of people in power.

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#12

Has any production battery become cheaper than LEAC ACID for computer UPS ? I have not seen new cheaper UPS getting launched.

Many "solar power stations" can be used as a UPS, with competitive switching speed. Just not sold under that label. You can even get one made entirely in the US, but it will cost you: https://enphase.com/store/portable-energy/iq-powerpack-1500-...

But yeah, the cheap chinese "power stations" run circles around most UPS capacity wise. UPS market is very complacent.

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#13

$33 per MWh for solar. What is it for coal or natural gas? Maybe half that?

Solar and storage is the cheapest form of power now. Prices for both will continue to decline.

Battery storage hits $65/MWh – a tipping point for solar - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46251705 - December 2025

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#14
post #5
post #4

Am I dumb or does that sentence "Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet" make no sense grammatically?

The actual headline is: Analysis finds "anytime electricity" from solar available as battery costs plummet. Those missing quotes go a long way to making the headline make sense.

Baseload, ideally.

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#15
post #8
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they meant "viable" instead of "available"

Just read the subhead. It explains everything. Ember’s report outlines how falling battery capital expenditures and improved performance metrics have lowered the levelized cost of storage, making dispatchable solar a competitive, anytime electricity option globally.

I.e. making it a viable option.

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#16
The scaling up of battery manufacturing for EVs and now solar storage has lead to prices I would have never imagined I'd see in my lifetime. It's one of the success stories that, having lived through it, has been a real joy.

I know that folks might have been able to point to a graph years ago and said we'd be here eventually, but I had my doubts given the scale required and hacking through all the lobbying efforts we saw against solar/battery. Alas, we made it here!

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#17
post #4

Am I dumb or does that sentence "Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet" make no sense grammatically?

Came in the comment section looking to see if it was just me. Had to read it 4 times

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#18
post #9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actual headline is: Analysis finds "anytime electricity" from solar available as battery costs plummet. Those missing quotes go a long way to making the headline make sense.

Its still really confusing. A better title would be "When solar power from batteries are available, costs plummet" Or since power has no provenience, "When batteries are available, electricity prices fall"

This doesn’t really capture their meaning though. They are describing a change in how the solar generated electricity can be treated due to the changing battery prices.

Arguably your edit is more factual. But part of the job of the title in an editorial like this is to tell you what their perspective is.

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#19

Has any production battery become cheaper than LEAC ACID for computer UPS ? I have not seen new cheaper UPS getting launched.

UPS is kinda different since they are hardly used. I haven't done the calculation but it would guess lead acid is still cheaper?

Re: Analysis finds anytime electricity from solar available as battery costs plummet

#20
post #12

Has any production battery become cheaper than LEAC ACID for computer UPS ? I have not seen new cheaper UPS getting launched.

Many "solar power stations" can be used as a UPS, with competitive switching speed. Just not sold under that label. You can even get one made entirely in the US, but it will cost you: https://enphase.com/store/portable-energy/iq-powerpack-1500-... But yeah, the cheap chinese "power stations" run circles around most UPS capacity wise. UPS market is very complacent.

Seems like an opportunity for someone
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