U.S. grid-scale energy storage added record 5,597 MW hours in Q2 2023
According to a new U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report from Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP), the storage market broke a quarterly record in this year’s second quarter, adding 5,597 MW hours.
It beat out the previous record by 5 percent – a 5,109 MW hour deployment in 2021. This was thanks to grid-scale deployments, which achieved a 172 percent growth quarter-over-quarter, dominated by California’s deployment of 738 MW, which represented a 49 percent share of installed capacity. Grid-scale is likely to continue driving the market as well, accounting for 83 percent of total installations (55 GW) between 2023 and 2027, according to Wood Mackenzie projections.
“The energy storage market is on pace for a record year, as utilities and larger power users increasingly turn to storage to enhance the grid and improve reliability,” John Hensley, ACP vice president of research and analytics, said. “The market is on pace to nearly double annual installations despite supply chain challenges and interconnection delays and will continue to grow quickly in coming years.”
That said, Wood Mackenzie’s analysts noted that while the second quarter brought a significant turnaround, it was because of many delayed projects finally coming to fruition at the same time.
“However, even with the record, the projected pipeline did not fully materialize, with more than 2 gigawatts (GW) pushed back,” Vanessa Witte, senior analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s energy storage team, said.
Residential storage reached its second-straight quarter of decline. Even in declines, California led, with a decreasing 17 percent quarter-over-quarter and 37 percent year-over-year. Community, commercial and industrial (CCI) installations hit 107 MW hours, though, holding the segment at 25 percent up year-over-year.
Currently, Wood Mackenzie predicts 8 GW total in 2027. However, CCI’s predictions fell 28 percent for the next five years, to 3 GW.
