U.S. Saw Record-High Battery Storage Deployments in the Spring
The U.S. installed a record amount of battery energy storage capacity in the second quarter of 2025 (POLITICO Pro’s ENERGYWIRE, subscription).
What’s going on: “Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association reported [on Sept. 26] that 5.6 gigawatts of energy storage installations came online between April and June.”
- That’s 63% higher than the same period in 2024 and an all-time quarterly high.
The details: Utility-scale projects accounted for the bulk of the growth, contributing sufficient additional capacity in Q2 to power 3.7 million homes at peak usage.
- Residential systems grew rapidly, too, with installations having risen 132% since the same period last year.
Where it happened: Texas, California and Arizona are home to 75% of the second-quarter growth, but installations rose across many other states as well.
The OBBBA factor: The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act preserved a key tax credit for grid batteries through 2033, a longer lifeline than for wind and solar. However, it also put strict ‘foreign entities of concern’ language in place for batteries to restrict imports from China, a challenge for an industry that has been reliant on the Asian country for components.”
What’s to come: The energy storage industry is likely to continue to see growth through the end of this decade. However, due in part to the FEOC provisions, which begin in January 2026, growth is not expected to reach this year’s levels again until 2029, the report said.
- “In a worst-case scenario that assumes future trade barriers with China and a plunge in renewable permitting, storage growth could drop 19% from 2025 to 2029.”
More cost-effective and reliable: Storage has become less reliant on renewables in recent years, and now “batteries are increasingly considered a stand-alone technology for power price stability and grid resilience,” according to a separate report out last week, by law firm Troutman Pepper Locke.