Affordable battery storage is poised to compete with fossil fuel-dependent power utilities that are already struggling to turn a profit against rooftop solar, according to an analysis by global investment bank HSBC.
For conventional generators, “there is no prospect of any return to anywhere near the level of profitability seen in the latter part of the last decade in generation,” HSBC concludes in its report, titled Energy Storage, Power to the People.
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“The HSBC analysis looks at a range of storage technologies and how they will impact conventional energy systems,” Parkinson writes. “Its major conclusion is that affordable battery storage will increase distributed generation—solar panels on household and business rooftops—and further reduce demand from the grid,” with Germany, California, and China leading the way. “The combined cost of solar and storage is on the way to being lower than the residential price in Germany,” he adds. “Welcome to ‘storage parity.’”
