U.S. Installs 3 GW / 10.5 GWh of Energy Storage in Q2 2024

The United States continues to set records for energy storage installations, driven by the increasing share of renewable energy from sources like solar and wind. A report from Wood Mackenzie revealed that U.S. developers installed 3,011 MW and 10,492 MWh of energy storage in Q2 2024, marking the busiest second quarter to date for system activations. This follows only Q4 2023 in terms of capacity, when 13,437 MWh came online.

California, Arizona, and Texas led the charge, accounting for 85% of the installations. Across all segments, the U.S. is projected to deploy 12.8 GW and 36.9 GWh of storage capacity in 2024.

John Hensley, senior vice president of markets and policy analysis at the American Clean Power Association, emphasised that this added capacity helps meet rising energy demand and addresses issues like grid reliability in the face of volatile weather. However, Hensley noted that challenges such as lengthy interconnection queues, permitting, and siting hurdles must be overcome to sustain growth.

While grid-scale storage remains the primary driver, residential storage grew more modestly. Vanessa Witte, senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie, attributed the slower growth to faltering residential installations in California and lower activity in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, which have been affected by incentive changes.

Looking forward, storage installations in 2024 are expected to grow by 42% compared to 2023. Wood Mackenzie forecasts an average annual growth rate of 7.6% from 2025 to 2028, with grid-scale storage adding 62 GW and distributed storage contributing 12 GW, 80% of which will come from residential battery additions.