Large, utility-scale programs are main the best way; they’re liable for a lot of the record-setting quarter. Seven new gigascale battery installations (these with a capability of over one gigawatt-hour) got here on-line through the three-month stretch, based on the report, revealed by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and the Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation.
“It actually got here right down to a handful of huge initiatives,” says Shan Tomouk, vitality storage and vitality lead for Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
However there was additionally progress within the class of so-called behind-the-meter batteries, which embody each residential and industrial battery storage programs. These initiatives, usually smaller than utility-scale installations, are sometimes owned and operated by owners or companies slightly than utilities or energy suppliers.
Within the behind-the-meter class, knowledge facilities led the best way, making up about three-quarters of latest batteries within the business sector. However residential batteries noticed a pointy slowdown. These programs are sometimes put in in properties to retailer energy from photo voltaic panels or function a backup supply in case of a blackout. House installations are projected to drop by 16% in 2026 in contrast with final 12 months, based on the report.
That drop occurred largely as a result of a tax credit score that helped subsidize house battery programs resulted in 2025, Tomouk says. House installations ought to get well by the tip of the last decade, he provides. And tax credit for nonresidential batteries have largely survived.
Total, batteries are a brilliant spot in vitality proper now. “This is likely one of the robust sectors within the US,” says Isshu Kikuma, an vitality storage analyst at BloombergNEF, an vitality consultancy.
Because the battery market continues to develop, one main development to keep watch over is a transfer towards US-made expertise. At the moment, almost all of the programs coming on-line use cells made in China, although some are put collectively into full vitality storage programs within the US.
Tariffs have been already pushing the US vitality storage business towards home manufacturing. And starting this 12 months, vitality storage tax credit required initiatives to restrict their reliance on batteries imported from China. There’s lots of manufacturing capability set to come back on-line within the US, although these factories in all probability gained’t have the ability to meet demand till at the least 2030 or so, Tomouk says, so costs may tick up.
