The U.S. energy storage market is no longer in its infancy. According to GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association’s (ESA) U.S. Energy Storage Monitor 2017 Year-in-Review, 100 MWh of grid-connected energy storage was deployed in the fourth quarter of 2017, marking 1,080 cumulative MWh deployed between 2013 and 2017.
But what’s really significant is that GTM Research expects the U.S. market to almost double this total in 2018 alone, with more than 1,000 MWh of energy storage forecast to be deployed this year.
“We’re going to have to strike the word ‘nascent’ from our vocabularies when describing the U.S. energy storage market,” said Ravi Manghani, GTM Research’s director of energy storage, in a press release. “Falling costs and favorable policies will be among the core drivers of the market’s breakout 2018. It’s not hard to imagine that every solar RFP by the end of the year will include storage.”
While the front-of-meter market made up the largest share of deployments, the behind-the-meter market grew 79% year-over-year with record deployments in both residential and non-residential segments.
California led the way in the behind-the-meter market mainly due to its Self-Generation Incentive Program. Hawaii, Massachusetts and New York also saw strong growth.
FERC’s recent Order 841 will also help drive the storage market. The order helps remove market barriers by requiring each regional grid operator to establish rules to allow energy storage to participate in the market. The rules will properly recognize the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources.
“The recent unanimous, landmark decision issued by FERC is expected to lay the groundwork for the integration of energy storage technologies into the U.S. wholesale markets in a manner that compensates storage for the full range of value it is already capable of providing to the grid and end users,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA, in a press release. “Policies and regulatory frameworks that level the playing field will further encourage energy storage deployment throughout 2018 and beyond as the industry builds toward a goal of realizing 35 GW by 2025.”
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