It found that, when DER deployment is coordinated with electrification, the overall cost of running the electricity system could be cut by as much as 40% by the 2030s as solar panels and batteries scale up. These savings could translate into an additional 0.8% of GDP to the global economy by 2030.
Battery deployment was one of the most significant variables affecting total system costs. Under world-average cost conditions, a mismatch of battery durations across asset types can push total system costs to as much as 35% above the current benchmark.
The research found that the order in which solar, batteries and electrification are rolled out is just as important as how fast they scale. When deployment and demand growth move out of step — in either direction — total system costs can rise temporarily before falling. As renewables scale, it’s critical to accelerate new electrified demand such as EVs, heat pumps, data centers, alongside continued battery rollout. This new demand backfills the grid capacity freed up by batteries and flexibility, spreading fixed costs over more electricity sold and driving down the price per megawatt-hour. This helps to reduce spikes in grid demand and flatten the load curve, which frees up capacity for other users.
The report finds that individual households, businesses and industries making decisions in their own interest tend to land close to the lowest-cost outcome for the system as a whole – which benefits other consumers on the grid. Policy should focus on enabling adoption, not dictating how much solar or storage any individual site installs. The report sets out three priorities for making that happen:
We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used.
