bess
LDES
Also known as: Long-Duration Energy Storage
Energy storage technologies discharging for 10+ hours, targeting renewable integration beyond what 4-hour BESS can solve.
Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) covers technologies discharging for 10 or more hours — beyond the 2–4 hour duration where lithium-ion BESS dominates. Candidates include flow batteries (vanadium, iron), compressed air, pumped hydro, gravity, thermal, and hydrogen-electricity round-trip. LDES is technology-uncertain in 2026 with no clear winner; deployment volumes remain under 5 GW globally vs ~200 GW of 4-hour lithium BESS.
Related terms
- BESS — Stationary battery system providing grid-scale or behind-the-meter energy storag…
- Round-Trip Efficiency — Ratio of energy out to energy in for a complete charge-discharge cycle of a BESS…