U.S. residential energy storage market has biggest installation quarter yet

• The U.S. energy storage market established a brand-new record in the fourth quarter of 2021, with brand-new system installations totaling 4,727 MWh.

According to Wood Mackenzie, a Verisk service, as well as the American Clean Power Association's (ACP) newest "united state Energy Storage Monitor" report, Q4 2021 saw more capacity mounted than in the very first 3 quarters incorporated, in spite of project hold-ups.

Residential storage had its best quarter to date with 123 MW set up, beating the previous quarterly record of 110 MW in Q1 2021. Progressively reliable solar + storage sales in markets outside of California helped develop the new quarterly benchmark as well as led to a nationwide annual total amount of 436 MW.

By 2026, annual installations in the residential segment are expected to strike 2 GW/5.4 GWh, with frontrunners in California, Puerto Rico, Texas, and also Florida leading that market segment.

"Puerto Rico's placement in the residential U.S. solar + storage market comes as not a surprise as well as demonstrates exactly how blackouts can drive battery adoption, with countless brand-new residential installs arising each quarter and also competition raising between regional installers," claimed Chloe Holden, an expert with Wood Mackenzie's energy storage team.

Annual deployments of grid-scale storage virtually tripled year-over-year to 3 GW/9.2 GWh. Despite a record year, the grid-scale market really did not fulfill expectations in 2021, with supply chain difficulties delaying greater than 2 GW of capacity into 2022 and 2023. Wood Mackenzie forecasts that supply chain stress and hold-ups within interconnection line up handling will persist via 2024.

"Also despite continued macro-economic headwinds, interconnection delays, as well as lack of positive federal policy, enhancing demand for resilient clean energy and also volatility in the rate of fuel-based generation will certainly drive energy storage release forward," said Jason Burwen, VP for energy storage at American Clean Power.

System component cost gains experienced over current years have actually almost been wiped out by higher prices for raw materials and transportation. Especially, battery module prices saw the largest boost of all system components because of the boosted price of raw materials.

The non-residential storage segment provided 131 MWh in the fourth quarter leading to 162 MW/350 MWh of overall annual releases in 2021. Segment demand was driven by raised storage attachment rates within the neighborhood solar markets of New York and also Massachusetts.