US power grid adds 4.2 GW of battery storage in H1 2024

Battery storage was the second largest contributor of utility-scale electric generating capacity in the United States during the first half of 2024, accounting for 4.2 GW.

According to the US Energy Information Administration’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, developers and power plant owners added a cumulative 20.2 GW of utility-scale electric generating capacity in the first six months of the year, up by 3.6 GW (21%) compared to the same period in 2023.

Solar accounted for the lion’s share of new additions, totaling 12 GW or 59%. In 2023, solar also dominated new additions to the grid. It was followed by battery storage, which made up 21% of the new capacity on the grid this year.

Battery additions were concentrated in four states: California (37% of the US total), Texas (24%), Arizona (19%), and Nevada (13%). The 380 MW of battery storage capacity in Nevada at the Gemini plant and the 300 MW Eleven Mile Solar Center in Arizona were the two largest projects that came online in the first half of 2024. 

Based on the most recently reported data, developers and owners expect to add another 42.6 GW of capacity in the second half of the year.

Wind power made up 12% (2.5 GW) of US capacity additions. Meanwhile, nuclear power increased with the launch of Unit 4 (1,114 MW) at Georgia’s Vogtle plant.

Retirement of US electric generating capacity has slowed in 2024. Operators retired 5.1 GW of generating capacity in the first half of the year, down from 9.2 GW during the first six months of 2023. In the first half of 2024, more than half (53%) of the retired capacity had used natural gas as its fuel, followed by coal at 41%.

Looking forward, developers plan to add 42.6 GW of new capacity in the United States in the second half of 2024. Nearly 60% of that planned capacity is from solar (25 GW), followed by battery storage (10.8 GW) and wind (4.6 GW).

If utilities add all the solar capacity they are currently planning, solar capacity additions will total 37 GW in 2024, a record in any one year and almost double last year’s 18.8 GW.

Utilities could also add a record amount of battery storage capacity this year (15 GW) if all planned additions come online. Plans for storage capacity in Texas and California currently account for 81% of new battery storage capacity in the second half of the year.

About 2.4 GW of capacity is scheduled to retire during the second half of 2024, including 0.7 GW of coal and 1.1 GW of natural gas.