Which storage technology is cheapest at each duration once costs come from NREL ATB and PyPSA technology-data, not from round numbers?
research/energy-lcos-sourced
Which storage technology is cheapest at each duration once costs are sourced (NREL ATB 2024, PyPSA technology-data)? Li-ion to 4 h, cavern compressed air from 6 h; at 8 h pumped hydro 52%, air 27%, Li-ion 22% of scenarios; hydrogen's assumed 500 h win does not survive.
What it found
Re-runs energy-lcos and energy-lcos-mc with every cost, efficiency and lifetime read from PyPSA technology-data (Danish Energy Agency; Viswanathan et al. 2022) and NREL ATB 2024, converted at the ECB 2025 rate. Point estimates keep the assumed map's order (Li-ion up to 4 h at $121/MWh, cavern compressed air from 6 h up) except at 500 h, where hydrogen no longer wins ($425 against $258). Over the sourced spread (ATB scenarios, pumped-hydro site classes, cost years 2020 to 2050, rate 3–10%, charging $10–100/MWh) 8 h is a three-way contest: pumped hydro 52%, compressed air 27%, Li-ion 22%; cavern air wins at least 95% from 48 h. Cavern air has a single sourced value, so the cost multiple that would cost it the win is reported (1.33 at 8 h, 2.2 at 24 h). Limitations: cycle life, fade, discount rate and charging price are not sourced; the spread is the range of two sources, not a probability.
A figure from its own output
Paper, code and results
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Produced with AI assistance (Claude). Results are from the code in this repository and are simulated or stylised unless the abstract says otherwise; nothing here implies affiliation with or endorsement by any lab, researcher or company cited. MIT licensed.