Energy storage installations exceeded 12 GW in 2024, despite a 20 per cent year-over-year drop in the fourth quarter, according to the latest (full-year 2024 and Q1 2025) Energy Storage Monitor – a quarterly publication of Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, and the American Clean Power Association (ACPA).
As per the report, US energy storage deployments rose 34 per cent from 2023 to 2024, and all three tracked energy storage segments saw double-digit growth. The report projects 15 GW/48 GWh of energy storage deployments in 2025, a 25 per cent increase over 2024, due to strong growth in the utility-scale segment and an expected 47 per cent jump in the residential segment.
But state and federal policy uncertainty cloud the medium-term outlook for energy storage, resulting in a 27-GW gap between the five-year “high” and “low” cases.
The utility-scale segment grew 32 per cent to 33.7 GWh, while the residential segment jumped 64 per cent to just over 3 GWh, and the community-scale, commercial and industrial (CCI) segment rose 11 per cent to 370 MWh. Development delays in late 2024 pushed about 2 GW of projects originally expected for last year into 2025, boosting 2025 forecast for utility-scale deployments by 11 per cent from the previous quarter.
Q4 2024 saw a noticeable increase in installations outside California and Texas, the US’s largest energy storage markets. The two states accounted for 61 per cent of deployments in the fourth quarter, a 30 per cent drop from Q3 2024, as New Mexico (400 MW), Oregon (292 MW), Arizona (185 MW), and North Carolina (115 MW) made meaningful contributions.
The future status of federal clean energy tax credits and tariff policy creates uncertainty in the five-year outlook for US energy storage. The annual storage capacity additions to grow by 22 GW to 13 GW a year on average over the next five years, depending on future tax and trade policy developments.
The “high case” assumes no change to federal tax credits, no further import tariffs, and brisk deployment of renewables firmed with storage, resulting in an extra 10 GW installed over the next five years. Its “low case” assumes a phaseout of tax credits beginning in 2028, higher duties on imports that raise costs for Chinese-made systems, and policies that favor gas-fired power production, resulting in a 22 per cent decline in total installations through 2029.
Longer-term changes in state policy could benefit the “high cost” CCI segment by the 2030s, but are unlikely to affect the segment’s five-year outlook, as per the report.