U.S. grid-scale energy storage market breaks Q1 record

The U.S. energy storage market set a new record in the first quarter of 2022, with grid-scale installations totalling 2,399 megawatt hours (MWh), the highest capacity for Q1 on record.

According to Wood Mackenzie, a Verisk business (Nasdaq: VSK), and the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report released today, the volume of U.S. grid-scale installations was four times the volume seen in Q1 of last year, despite continued procurement difficulties and project delays.

“Quarter one of 2022 was the largest first quarter on record by far for grid-scale installations, a notable milestone since installations are typically back-weighted to the second half of the year. The West Coast and Southwest regions continue to dominate for both standalone and hybrid systems,” said Vanessa Witte, senior analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s energy storage team.

Despite significant growth, near-term risks remain for the grid-scale market. Market disruption from the anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) solar tariff investigation initiated by the Department of Commerce in March lowered projections for hybrid projects significantly in 2022, and to a lesser extent in 2023, as procurement stalled.

“The Biden Administration’s recent decision to pause AD/CVD solar tariffs for two years restores predictability to both the solar and energy storage markets. With well over 50% of utility storage projects being paired with solar farms, this important executive action will help the energy storage market continue to accelerate,” said John Hensley, Vice President of Research and Analytics at ACP.

Residential storage also had its strongest quarter to date with 334 MWh installed in Q1, beating the previous quarterly record of 283 MWh in Q4 of last year.

“Despite challenging supply conditions continuing to suppress residential storage, the segment saw over 20,000 installations in a single quarter for the first time and we’re seeing large and small installers forge new vendor partnerships to help meet rising customer demand,” said Chloe Holden, analyst with Wood Mackenzie.

By 2026, the residential storage segment is forecasted to grow by 5.7 GWh annually, with California’s Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 expected to align with the California Public Utilities Commission’s December 2021 proposed decision with implementation now on a delayed timeline.

Non-residential storage is predicted to grow 1 GW annually by 2026, but the overall market forecast has been downgraded due in part to AD/CVD-related procurement delays. “A meaningful share of residential solar-plus-storage projects not yet procured are being pushed to 2023, which has impacted paired storage,” Holden added.

Overall, the U.S. energy storage market added 955 MW and 2,875 MWh across all segments in the first quarter of 2022.

“California continues to dominate the sector, with the Valley Center and Slate projects taking the top two spots for largest projects installed in Q1. We also saw more than 90 MW of storage come online outside the top seven states, including projects in Oregon and Alaska,” Witte said.