Levelised Cost of Storage (LCOS)
The all-in cost per MWh cycled through the battery over its life.
Levelised Cost of Storage (LCOS) is the total lifetime cost of a storage asset — capital, augmentation, O&M, charging energy and losses — divided by the total energy it discharges over its life, in currency per MWh. It is the storage analogue of LCOE and the number that decides whether a project pencils, with degradation and augmentation as major swing factors.
Definition
LCOS sums every discounted cost over the asset’s life (capex, augmentation reserves, fixed and variable O&M, charging energy, and round-trip losses) and divides by the discounted lifetime energy discharged. Because degradation reduces both the energy delivered and the timing of augmentation spend, the assumed fade rate strongly drives the result.
Formula
LCOS = Σ discounted lifetime costs ÷ Σ discounted lifetime energy discharged
Typical range
LCOS varies widely with duration, cycles per day, and market, but it is dominated by capex, round-trip efficiency, and degradation/augmentation assumptions. Improving real-world RTE or deferring augmentation both pull LCOS down directly.
Why it matters
LCOS is how storage projects are compared and financed. Two inputs operators can actually influence — round-trip efficiency and the degradation rate that sets augmentation timing — flow straight into it, so operational performance and LCOS are tightly linked rather than separate concerns.
How NuraVolt tracks it
NuraVolt feeds LCOS models the measured inputs that usually come from assumptions: real RTE per cycle, actual SoH-driven augmentation timing, and availability — so the cost-per-MWh reflects how the asset is genuinely performing, and the levers that lower it are visible.
Frequently asked questions
See also
How much energy survives a charge-and-discharge cycle.
Adding capacity mid-life to hold a contracted output as cells fade.
A single number that normalises messy partial cycling into full-cycle equivalents.
The share of committed time the storage asset could actually respond.
See this on your own plants
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