Four-hour duration batteries are now cheaper than open-cycle gas turbines in every one of the 43 markets Wood Mackenzie surveyed, and the consultancy expects battery electricity costs to keep falling while turbine-generated electrons get more expensive. The shift lands as AI data-center developers have driven gas-turbine prices up with two-to-four-year procurement waits for open-cycle units and backlogs into the early 2030s for closed-cycle ones. Solar remains the cheapest new power in every market surveyed, though North American solar is under pressure from tariffs and import restrictions.
Batteries now undercut gas turbines for data-center power in every major market
Wood Mackenzie says four-hour batteries are now cheaper than open-cycle gas turbines in all 43 markets it surveyed, a milestone that reshapes how data-center developers source power.
Why it matters: AI developers have been bidding up gas-turbine prices with multi-year waitlists, so battery storage going cost-competitive everywhere changes the economics of the buildout, though North American projects still face tariff pressure on solar.
Data as of October 9, 2026, via TechCrunch. Single-sourced: the underlying Wood Mackenzie report was not independently reviewed, so the cost claims are TechCrunch's account of the report until corroborated.
Sources
- Batteries are now cheaper than natural gas turbines used at many data centers · TechCrunch, reporting a Wood Mackenzie report · 2026-10-09