US Storage Industry to Build on Strong Third Quarter: Report

The US energy storage sector had its strongest third quarter on record and a new analysis by WoodMac predicts a 12x growth in MW-terms between now and 2024.

The United States energy storage sector had its strongest third quarter on record this year, deploying 100.7 megawatts (MW) and 264.6 megawatt-hours (MWh) of storage, and a new analysis by WoodMac predicts a 12x growth in MW-terms between now and 2024.

The front-of-meter (FTM) market rebounded after its slump with 161 MW deployed, and the residential storage market kept up recent momentum, slightly outpacing second quarter deployment levels to deliver a new record for quarterly residential deployments.

Massachusetts was the quarter’s clear leader for FTM storage deployments at 58 MWh deployed. Vermont and Arkansas tied for second place at 24 megawatt-hours of FTM storage each. The U.S. front-of-the-meter segment saw 121 percent quarter over quarter growth in the third quarter and is on track to grow by nearly 10 percent year-over-year in MW-terms in 2019.

FTM storage growth will accelerate significantly starting in 2020 as the segment adds 825 MW next year and 2,635 MW the following year.

“We are encouraged to see the continued strong growth of the energy storage industry,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the US Energy Storage Association. “Three of the last four quarters have recorded more than 100 MW in deployments, experiencing a healthy diversity of customer-sited and grid-side projects, and a growing pipeline of projects in development. We can expect deployments to accelerate even further if Congress acts to pass legislation making stand-alone energy storage eligible for the 30 percent investment tax credit by the end of this year.”

Residential storage grew by nearly 40 MW in the third quarter of the year. California, Hawaii and Arizona were the largest US markets for residential storage in during the timeframe.

“The power shutoffs over the past few months in California will act as significant drivers of growth in residential storage into 2020 and beyond as more customers explore solar-plus-storage for backup power.

“Installers have already shared anecdotes about growing residential storage volumes in California, and we expect a large uptick early next year as marketing efforts for solar-plus-storage started earlier this year bear fruit. We expect roughly 1 in 5 new residential solar PV systems installed in 2020 to be paired with storage,” said Brett Simon, Wood Mackenzie senior storage analyst.

The US energy storage market is expected to grow by over 12x in MW-terms between 2019 and 2024. This outlook was upgraded versus the second quarter as a result of significant activity in the FTM segment, including several new large-scale project and procurement announcements, as well as significant upside due to massive short-term capacity additions planned in Southern California.

Approximately 23x growth is expected in the FTM segment between 2019 and 2024, while a steady rise in residential deployments will build on a strong 2019.