Battery storage now cheaper than gas plants globally

Four-hour battery systems have achieved cost parity with open-cycle gas peakers across major markets, reshaping which plants get built in the next decade. U.S. developers face tariff and supply chain barriers that could fracture this economic logic along geopolitical lines. As grids add renewable capacity and need fast-response backup power, the traditional gas peaker as the default solution is now uncompetitive everywhere except where policy preserves it. This creates a wedge between markets where batteries win on merit and those where trade friction artificially sustains incumbent gas infrastructure.