A record 2156 megawatt-hours (MWh) of new energy storage systems were brought online in the US in the fourth quarter of 2020, up 182% on the third quarter of last year, according to Wood Mackenzie and the US Energy Storage Association (ESA).
The latest ‘US Energy Storage Monitor’ report said that four out of every 5MW deployed in Q4 was front-of-the-metre (FTM) storage, boosted by price falls and the removal of barriers to deployment.
FTM contributed 529MW out of the total 651MW of storage deployed in Q4, with California seeing the lion’s share of deployments, according to the report.
Residential storage saw 90.1MW installed, making up 14% of the MW total for the quarter.
In 2020 overall, 1464MW/3487MWh of new storage came online in the US, meaning 179% more storage was added in 2020 than in 2019 in MW terms, the report said.
It added that the storage market will add five times more MW of storage in 2025 than was added in 2020, with FTM storage continuing to contribute between 75-85% of new MW each year.
US ESA interim chief executive Jason Burwen said: “2020 is the first year that advanced energy storage deployments surpassed gigawatt scale – a tremendous milestone on the path to our aspiration of 100GW by 2030.
“With continuing storage cost declines and growing policy support and regulatory reform in states and the federal government, energy storage is on an accelerating trajectory to enable a resilient, decarbonised, and affordable electric grid for all.”
Wood Mackenzie head of energy storage Dan Finn-Foley said: “The data truly speaks for itself. The US installed 3115 MWh of storage from 2013 through 2019, a total that 2020 beat in a single year.
“This is the hallmark of a market beginning to accelerate exponentially, and momentum will only increase over the coming years.
“The new largest battery in the world, the 300MW/1200MWh system newly installed at Moss Landing, likely won’t hold the title for long.”