Battery Storage Costs Plunge 27% Amid Clean Energy Shake-Up
The energy transition finally has a cost curve investors like. Battery storage costs fell 27% year-over-year to $78 per megawatt-hour in 2025, the lowest level since BloombergNEF began tracking the data in 2009. The decline is being driven by EV-driven manufacturing overcapacity, tougher supplier competition, and a smarter system.
- Developers installed 87 gigawatts of solar plus storage in 2025 at $57/MWh, while gas turbines jumped 16% to a record $102/MWh as data-center demand kept prices elevated.
- Generation costs keep drifting higher, with solar up 6% to $39/MWh, onshore wind at $40/MWh, and offshore wind jumping to $100/MWh globally.
The cost reset: BloombergNEF expects the cost curve to keep moving lower. Even with protectionism rising and supply chains still strained, innovation and tougher competition are expected to keep pushing costs down, cutting solar by 30%, battery storage by 25%, and wind by roughly 20% by 2035. Four-hour battery systems are already below $100/MWh in six markets, according to lead author Amar Vasdev. As storage economics improve, batteries could displace fossil-fuel peaking capacity while strengthening revenue streams for renewable projects.