Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS)
The total lifetime cost of a battery system divided by total energy it delivers over its life, expressed in $/kWh. Accounts for purchase price, installation, degradation, replacement, and round-trip efficiency losses.
Why It Matters
LCOS lets you compare battery economics to grid electricity prices. When LCOS falls below the difference between peak and off-peak rates, time-shifting becomes profitable.
Related Tools
Related Terms
LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy)
The average total cost of building, fueling, and operating a power plant per unit of electricity produced over its lifetime, expressed in $/MWh. LCOE enables apples-to-apples comparison across different generation technologies.
Round-Trip Efficiency
The percentage of energy put into a battery that can be retrieved. Typical lithium-ion batteries have 90-95% round-trip efficiency — meaning 5-10% is lost as heat during charge/discharge.
Cycle Life
The number of complete charge-discharge cycles a battery can perform before its capacity drops below a specified threshold (typically 70-80% of original capacity).