The Growth of Grid-Scale Battery Storage in America, Explained

How U.S. grid-scale battery capacity grew by 900% in 3 years

This is the third installment of a series exploring changes in America’s power sector. Here’s Part One on the decline of coal power. And here’s Part Two on the remarkable growth of solar.

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If there’s one lesson that we should all take away from the clean energy transition thus far, it’s this: Expert predictions are rarely accurate.

Smart people, with vast amounts of data at their fingertips and industry experience behind them keep underestimating how quickly the world can transition from fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil to renewable energy. 

In the last story in this series, I wrote about how analysts at the International Energy Agency (IEA) keep getting their predictions about solar energy wrong. As I wrote of one infamous prediction: 

In 2010, some of the world’s smartest energy analysts, working at the International Energy Agency (IEA), predicted that by 2035 the world would generate 630 TWh of electricity from solar annually.

In 2019, the world generated that much solar, 16 years ahead of schedule. Last year, the world generated twice that amount. 

But solar isn’t the only technology that experts continue to underestimate. This week, I want to highlight another clean energy technology that has grown much faster than anyone thought possible: grid-scale lithium-ion batteries. 

In this post, I’ll cover: 

• How U.S. grid-scale battery capacity grew by 900% in 3 years

• Why batteries became cheaper than anyone expected

• The niche market where grid batteries got their start a decade ago

• How batteries are replacing peaker plants

• Where America’s aging peaker plants are located

• How batteries improve the economics of renewable energy projects

• Why most of America’s grid-scale batteries are in California and Texas

• Where the battery market might go from here

It’s a long one, packed full of charts, original analysis, commentary from long-time industry experts, and a detailed history of the battery storage market. My hope is that it can serve as a comprehensive overview of what’s going on in the world of short duration energy storage today.¹

So without further ado, let’s get into it.