The Global Solar Council (GSC) recently announced it would expand its mandate to represent both solar PV and battery storage — becoming the world’s first global trade association for battery storage.
Credit: Arevon
The announcement coincided with the launch of GSC’s comprehensive Grid & Storage Position Paper: Connecting the Sun, signaling the independent organization’s evolution from a solar-only advocate to a voice for the solar and storage ecosystem.
“Today we are pioneering an entirely new era of global energy leadership,” said Sonia Dunlop, CEO of the Global Solar Council. “Until today, the world’s fastest-growing energy storage technology had no unified global voice. That changes now. Solar and storage have evolved from complementary technologies to an integrated solution transforming how the world thinks about reliable, locally produced power. GSC is stepping up to lead this transformation because we need to move beyond traditional silos. We need to help policymakers understand and implement the pivotal infrastructure this decade requires.”
Global battery capacity has experienced unprecedented growth, expanding from less than 1 GW in 2013 to over 155 GW today. Industry projections indicate an additional 350 GWh of capacity will come online in 2025 alone. Despite this, current short and long duration storage deployment falls dramatically short of the 1,500 GW of storage capacity required to triple renewable energy by 2030. Annual storage investment reached $60 billion in 2024 and is poised for rapid growth.
GSC’s Connecting the Sun report outlines specific actions for leaders to address this storage deficit and maintain momentum to triple renewables by 2030, including:
- Setting national storage targets integrated with wider system planning.
- Modernizing electricity markets by allowing storage to provide grid services and rewarding flexibility.
- Facilitating regional super-grids and cross-border interconnections to enhance system flexibility.
- Unlocking capital for solar and storage in emerging markets through derisking mechanisms and innovative financing to accelerate deployment at the scale needed for energy transition.
- Accelerating next-generation technologies, such as grid-forming inverters, to increase flexibility and wider system resilience.
GSC’s evolution reflects a broader, sector-wide shift toward integration of solar plus storage, with more than 30% of new battery installations in 2024 paired with solar PV. In many markets, solar and storage has become the default deployment model. Battery costs have plummeted 93% since 2010, making storage economically viable across diverse applications, from utility-scale projects to residential systems.
To accelerate deployment, GSC is assembling a battery storage coalition and has initiated partnerships with the Global Battery Alliance, the International Battery and Energy Storage Alliance (IBESA), and the Future Storage and Systems Integration Alliance (FESSIA) – spanning mining, manufacturing, deployment and recycling.
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