Value chain · CLM-0269
In plain terms
In 2025, IRENA put the cost of building a large battery that can supply power for four hours at about 140 US dollars per kilowatt hour of storage. That is nearly 30 per cent less than a year earlier and about a twentieth of the 2010 cost.
The claim as recorded
IRENA estimates the installed cost of a four-hour utility-scale battery in 2025 at USD 140/kWh, close to 30% lower than a year earlier and around 95% lower than in 2010, and below USD 70/kWh in China.
Scope and limits
A storage capital cost only, not a levelised cost of firm electricity, so it cannot be added directly to a generation LCOE. For a firmed figure, use IRENA's own firm LCOE (CLM-1221), with its conditions. It does not say which chemistries or markets are included, or whether kWh is usable or nameplate capacity. The full report is not held. Do not mix it with SRC-153's USD 273/kWh (2023, usable capacity, all durations) or SRC-597's USD 192/kWh (2024, total installed cost of utility-scale BESS): they differ in currency year and in definition.
What it assumes
a four-hour duration; a global estimate. The summary does not say whether kWh is usable or nameplate capacity.
Where it comes from
p.8: "IRENA estimates the installed cost of a four-hour utility-scale battery at USD 140/kWh, a decrease of close to 30% in a single year and around 95% since 2010." p.3: "Costs also fell to below USD 70/kWh in China."
Basis: USD2025/kWh, installed capital cost of a four-hour utility-scale battery (a storage capital cost, not an LCOE)
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-021 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0269
CLM-0269, Energy Aperture, as of 2025.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-598
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