A record quantity of energy storage systems were deployed in the US market during the fourth quarter of 2021 helping to set a new annual record, according to a new report.
A total of 4,727MWh of storage was installed in the US in the last three months of 2021 according to the US Energy Storage Monitor report by industry analysts Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP).
The last quarter of 2021 saw more residential and non-residential installed capacity than in the first three quarters combined, despite project delays.
Annual deployments of grid-scale storage nearly tripled year-over-year to 3GW/ 9.2GWh.
There was 123MW of residential storage installed during Q4 of last year, its strongest quarter to date, beating the previous quarterly record of 110MW set in Q1 of last year.
Increasingly effective solar-plus-storage sales in markets outside of California helped establish the new quarterly benchmark and resulted in a national annual total of 436MW, stated the report.
The non-residential storage segment delivered 131MWh in the fourth quarter, bringing the last year’s overall deployments to 162MW/350MWh.
Segment demand was driven by increased storage attachment rates within the community solar markets of the US states New York and Massachusetts, noted the report.
However, the grid-scale market didn’t meet expectations, with supply chain challenges delaying more than 2GW of capacity into 2022 and 2023.
Wood Mackenzie forecasts that supply chain pressures and delays within interconnection queue processing will persist through 2024.
Jason Burwen, vice president for energy storage at American Clean Power, said: “Even in the face of continued macro-economic headwinds, interconnection delays, and lack of proactive federal policy, increasing demand for resilient clean energy and volatility in the price of fuel-based generation will drive energy storage deployment forward.
“Despite supply tightness leading to some project delays, the grid-scale market is still on track for exponential growth.”
Predicting growth
By 2026, annual installations in the residential segment are expected to hit 2GW/5.4GWh, with frontrunner market forecast to be the US states California, Texas, and Florida and the US territory Puerto Rico.
Chloe Holden, an analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s energy storage team, said: “Puerto Rico’s position in the residential US solar-plus-storage market comes as no surprise, and demonstrates how outages can drive battery adoption, with thousands of new residential installs emerging each quarter and competition increasing between local installers.
“Outages in Puerto Rico are also driving customers to recognise the added value of resilience that solar-plus-storage systems offer, despite premium pricing and lack of incentive programs. This is also driving solar-plus-storage market growth in Florida, the Carolinas and parts of the Midwest.”
