Grid-scale energy storage totaling 1.17 GW was installed across the U.S. in the second quarter of 2022, a 212% increase from the same quarter of 2021, an industry report shows.
But an almost equal amount — 1.16 GW — of installations projected to come online in the second quarter were delayed or canceled because of problems in the supply chain, shipment delays or challenges in the interconnection queue.
The quarterly U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the American Clean Power Association (ACP) was released Sept. 14.
It found a smaller increase in residential installations (154 MW in the second quarter of 2022, up 67%) and a decrease in community/commercial/industrial installation (26.3 MW, down 24%).
Wood Mackenzie forecasts rapid and steady growth in the next few years, with U.S. installed capacity expanding 192 GWh from 2022 through 2026. But analyst Vanessa Witte expects continued headwinds in the near term.
“Despite impressive growth, the U.S. grid-scale energy storage pipeline continues to face rolling delays into 2023 and beyond. More than 1.1 GW of projects originally scheduled to come online in Q2 were delayed or canceled, although 61% of this capacity, 709 MW, is still scheduled to come online in Q3 and Q4 of 2022,” she said in a news release announcing the report.
Investment tax credits enacted for standalone storage and extended for solar power as part of the Inflation Reduction Act are expected to support all segments of the energy storage industry, the authors of the report said.
“The U.S. energy storage industry is reaching maturity,” said Jason Burwen, ACP’s vice president of energy storage. “Energy storage is now regularly being installed at over a gigawatt per quarter. In addition, Texas overtaking California this quarter should serve as a reminder that generators, customers and grid operators in all geographies are increasingly relying on energy storage.”
The capacity of the units installed in the second quarter of 2022 totaled 3.04 GWh, the bulk of it in grid-scale projects, which accounted for 2.61 GWh.
