US energy storage roll-out up 45% in 2018, says new report

Installations of energy storage in the United States jumped by 44.9% last year, according to trade body the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).

A new report from the organisation estimates a grand total of 760.3MWh of energy storage was interconnected US-wide in 2018, hitting a cumulative market size of 1,966.6MWh.

According to SEPA, investor-owned utilities (IOUs) dominated last year, accounting for 64.3% (488.6MWh) of nation-wide energy storage installations.

However, public power utilities and electric cooperatives were on catch-up mode after seeing a dramatic ramp-up in 2018, SEPA found.

They interconnected 271.7MWh of storage last year – a whopping 300% jump from 2017. Public power was the fastest growing segment, increasing by more than 1,400%.

Utilities Southern California Edison, Kaui Island Cooperative and Pacific Gas & Electric boasted the most MWh storage capacity in the country at 153MWh, 102MWh and 73.2MWh respectively.

Across market segments, utility-supply storage witnessed the largest roll-out, with 2018’s installations of 394.8MWh 11.3% above the 2017 figures.

Read more: Energy Storage News