The U.S. energy storage industry just passed a milestone — deploying more than 1 gigawatt of energy storage in 2020. (The U.S. solar industry passed that mark in 2011.)
Jason Burwen, Interim CEO at U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA), quoted the figure during a recent policy energy storage policy forum.
Data from ESA and oil, gas and renewables research firm Wood Mackenzie reveal that this is just the first year of hyper-growth for the increasingly relevant industry.
2020 is also the year that utility-scale storage leaves residential- and commercial-scale storage in the dust.
Driven by regulatory fiat and plunging lithium-ion battery prices, utility-scale energy storage is now a key piece of most utilities’ Integrated Resource Planning.
Official news is due out next month.
Regulatory fiat indeed. It will be interesting to see if 2021 delivers on the current forecasts. Bonkers about GTM closing up.