US adds record 20.2 GWh of energy storage capacity in Q2

A report from SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has revealed that US installed energy storage capacity grew by 20.2 GWh in the second quarter of 2026, representing 6.7 GW of continuous power output capacity.

The additions, detailed in the Q3 2026 Energy Storage Market Outlook, bring the total energy storage capacity installed in the country to 165 GWh, which represents a doubling of energy storage capacity installed over the past 18 months.

Due to the rapid pace of additions and continued demand for new storage, the groups have raised their outlook for predicted US storage capacity additions to 71 GWh in 2026 – 20% greater than the 59 GWh installed in 2025. They have also raised their target for total installed capacity by 2030 to 683 GWh.

“This record growth highlights that storage is a powerful reliability tool that strengthens our energy security, meets rising demand and puts downward pressure on electricity bills,” said SEIA President and CEO Tim Pawlenty in a statement.

Of the 20.2 GWh installed in the second quarter, 18 GWh came from the utility space, with Arizona, California, Utah and Texas each deploying over 2.5 GWh. Another 1.8 GWh was installed behind-the meter at commercial and industrial (C&I) sites and 657 MWh was placed in homes.

In total, 44% of storage installed in the second quarter was paired with solar, with standalone installations accounting for the remainder.

While the utility-scale and C&I numbers both represented individual deployment records, the residential deployments showed a 27% decrease over the same quarter last year, which the analysts said was an effect of both the rush to install residential storage before the end of the Section 25D tax credit at the end of 2025 and the decrease in installation volume that has occurred since.

Growth in the C&I space was particularly notable, with the 1,845 GWh deployed representing an increase of more than 52% over the 1,212 GWh installed the same quarter last year. The researchers attributed this to the rapid expansion of storage installations at data centers.

Combined with the 2,337 GWh in C&I storage installed in the first quarter, the mid-year number is just 13% less than all C&I energy storage deployed in 2025, and with the analysts predicting nearly 6 GWh in additional C&I installations by the end of the year, capacity installed in this segment is expected to be double what was built in 2025.

The SEIA/Benchmark report also touched on key policy initiatives in the first half of the year, including the Illinois Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act, which aims to deploy 3 GW of energy storage by 2030, and updated statutory targets in Virginia that mandate 16.78 GW of new short-duration energy storage by 2040 and 4.52 GW of long-duration energy storage (LDES) by 2045.

The report also covered actions taken by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require the six US regional grid operators and their transmission owners to provide justification for why their current tariffs remain just and reasonable in the absence of clear and consistent provisions for large load customers, or propose changes to those tariffs. 

That action resulted in responses from the grid operators on Aug. 17, which are now under review in FERC dockets.

From pv magazine USA