Four-hour batteries undercut open-cycle gas peakers in all 43 markets Wood Mackenzie studied

The comparison is deliberately narrow. Utilities run open-cycle turbines as peakers, firing them to generate power when demand spikes ^[4]. A four-hour battery covers that same window, and Wood Mackenzie priced the two in that role. In all 43 markets, on every continent, the battery came out cheaper ^[1].

The case strengthened on supply. Rising turbine prices and long procurement delays are what tilt the economics toward storage, the firm says ^[14]. The report also lands as US energy prices climb, feeding inflation, and as data centers push electricity demand to new highs ^[3]. AI data-center developers are buying up the gas turbines that are available and pushing prices up, with open-cycle models hit hardest ^[5]. Those models are easier to get than closed-cycle machines, but less efficient and more expensive to run ^[6][7]. An open-cycle turbine now takes two to four years to procure, and the order queue for closed-cycle units runs into the early 2030s ^[8][9]. The backlog on both makes any new gas plant more expensive to build ^[10].

Treat the 43-market result as a claim about someone else's project, because that is what it is. It transfers to yours only where the peak you need to cover fits inside four hours and your local market resembles one Wood Mackenzie priced. The firm's regional splits show how much that varies: four-hour batteries are forecast 33% cheaper across Middle East and Africa gas markets by 2035 ^[11], while storage in China already costs 55% less than in neighboring countries ^[12].

Solar is the cheapest source of new capacity in every market studied, North America included ^[13]. There the result is more contingent. Wood Mackenzie says tariffs and import limits are pressuring solar prices, though large plants are expected to fare better ^[15]. About 168 GW is largely shielded from near-term price shocks by safe-harbor provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which keep tax credits for projects that start or finish construction before the end of 2027 ^[16].

The gap is expected to widen. Wood Mackenzie expects battery costs to keep falling for decades while gas-turbine power gets more expensive ^[2], and it expects the US gas oversupply to shrink over the next decade ^[19]. Ahmed Jamil Abdulla, the firm's principal analyst, said in a press release that the economic shift is decisive and growing stronger ^[17].