U.S. Energy Storage Capacity Installations Hit Record High in Q2
The U.S. installed a record-high energy storage capacity in the second quarter of the year as grid operators and utilities turned to storage to boost grid reliability and meet rising power demand, a new industry report showed on Tuesday. The industry installed 20.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity in the second quarter of the year, making it the largest quarter for installations on record and…
In the second quarter of the year, the United States reached a record-high level of energy storage capacity installations as grid operators and utilities utilized storage to enhance grid reliability and accommodate increasing power demand, according to a new industry report released on Tuesday. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence detailed that 20.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity was installed in Q2, making it the largest quarter on record and pushing total installations in the first half of 2026 to 30.8 GWh.
The utility-scale market witnessed the most significant surge, with 18 GWh of installations, primarily driven by seven gigawatt-scale projects. Arizona led the nation with more than 6.2 GWh of utility-scale projects, setting a new record for the largest quarterly deployment for any state in history. Residential storage installations totaled 657 megawatt-hours (MWh), while the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector added 1.8 GWh, largely due to power demand from data centers, as reported by SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
Rising demand for energy storage to bolster grid reliability prompted SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence to raise their forecast for installations by 11.5% through 2030. The industry now anticipates annual installations to surpass 110 GWh, with a cumulative total of 683 GWh by the end of the decade. SEIA emphasized that the upward revision occurred as the sector continues to set deployment records, with over 10% of all U.S. energy storage capacity coming online in Q2 alone.
Shan Tomouk, BESS & Energy Lead at Benchmark Minerals, noted that energy storage is no longer limited to California and Texas, highlighting strong pipeline growth in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, and several other states.
The report also revealed that battery energy storage supplied more electricity to the grid during the first eight months of 2026 than in all of 2025. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), utility-scale battery storage capacity in the United States has increased over the past three years, with an annual average growth rate of 70%.
Written by urgent.news from OilPrice's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
