At the big clean energy conferences that have been held in three continents over the last two months the major topic of conversation has been clear – battery storage – what it can do, what it will cost, and when it will be here.

It’s a subject that is crucial to everyone along the renewable energy value chain – from customers (residential and utility-scale) looking to get the most out of their rooftop panels or large projects, to the manufacturers of technology looking to future markets, to the operators of grids looking to integrate variable renewables.

The motivation for battery storage ranges from increased self-sufficiency, off-grid applications, smoothing output, and playing an arbitrage game with electricity tariffs, to reinforcing networks and reducing the need for more poles and wires. It is hailed as the next great “game-changer” for the electricity industry because it will help that other great “game-changer” – rooftop solar – increase its appeal to electricity consumers and producers alike.

But at the InterSolar conferences in Europe and North America, and at the Clean Energy Week conference in Australia last week, the conclusion is more of less the same – battery storage is coming, and more quickly than most people think – but for the moment the numbers don’t quite add up.

via Battery storage: The numbers don’t add up – yet : Renew Economy.