Lithium-ion battery cost analysis in PV-household application

With strongly decreasing prices of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and the stepwise reduction of remuneration for photovoltaic grid feed-in power in Germany, 'home storage' battery usage for buffering of surplus PV generation and subsequent self-consumption is a field of growing interest and market activity. In this paper we use a multi-parameter economic model which allows profitability estimation for BESS with sensitivity to both technical and economical parameters, such as battery end-of-life criterion, battery ageing behavior, electricity prices and storage investment costs. Using this model, we derive a clear picture of system profitability with dependence to all major influencing parameters. Applying the baseline ageing characteristic and given the German market price trends, system profitability is expected to be reached in the very near future. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.