The US is facing a continuing boom in battery energy storage in 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In a report on electricity generation, it said developers and power plant owners plan to add 62.8GW of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity in 2024.
Battery storage will account for 23% of the new storage, it estimates, according to its latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. The rise of solar and wind capacity is driving the demand for battery storage.
The overall additional capacity, including batteries, would be 55% more than the 40.4GW added in 2023. That itself was the most since 2003. It comes on the back of a continued rise in industry activity, it said.
The body expects battery storage to set a record for annual capacity additions in 2024. It expects a near doubling of capacity in 2024. Developers are reporting plans to add 14.3GW of battery storage to the existing 15.5GW this year, it said.
In 2023, 6.4GW of new battery storage capacity was added to the US grid, a 70% annual rise.
Texas and California will account for 82% of the new US battery storage capacity this year (with 6.4 GW and 5.2 GW respectively), it said.
Developers have scheduled the Menifee Power Bank (460MW) in Riverside, California, to come on line in 2024. It is on the site of the former Inland Empire Energy Center natural gas-fired power plant.
The Inflation Reduction Act has also accelerated the development of energy storage by introducing investment tax credits for stand-alone storage, according to the administration. Before the IRA, batteries only qualified for federal tax credits if they were co-located with solar.
Separately, special advisor to the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Alessandro Blasi, said on his LinkedIn page that the agency is preparing a major report on batteries. The agency said the tripling of renewables goals requires battery storage to increase a massive 35-fold to 1200GW, according to Blasi.
“The race for battery manufacturing is on with massive plans announced around the world,” he said. Deployment of batteries cannot be taken for granted, however, and improved regulation and policies are required in the field of critical minerals, value recognition and sustainability.
