This article is sponsored by Sungrow. In this VIEWS article, Solar Power World spoke with Michael Prine-Robie, Senior Manager at Sungrow, to discuss the changes to America’s energy landscape and how solar power generation and storage offers a path forward in tackling these challenges.
As electron-thirsty technologies such as AI, electric vehicles, cryptocurrencies and data centers reshape America’s energy landscape, solar plus storage offers the fastest path to new power.
“We expect to see electricity demand grow 2–3% in the U.S. every year for the next decade,” says Michael Prine-Robie, senior manager at Sungrow, who spoke recently at the BNEF Summit in New York. “That’s quite a change from the past 10–20 years, where we’ve been at about half a percent of growth per year.”
AI, for example, drives demand by accelerating the need for more data centers. “Currently, data centers account for 3.5 percent of U.S. electricity demand,” says Prine-Robie. “By 2035, that will more than double to 8.6%.”
“Hyperscalers” link thousands to millions of computer servers distributed across numerous data centers worldwide. These large-scale cloud service providers were already energy-hungry even before AI. They enable online ordering, the software-as-a-service economy, and Big Data analytics, as well as virtual servers that enterprises can rent to store their data.
Massive data centers require multiple power sources and automated fail-safe mechanisms to ensure availability and minimize downtime. Once the province of lead-acid batteries and diesel generators, such backup systems are transitioning to lithium-ion battery energy storage systems, often recharged by solar panels. Renewable energy helps minimize the data centers’ environmental impact, as well.
Keeping up with this level of growth will depend on how quickly new energy projects can be built.
“Solar is more cost-effective than other energy sources,” says Prine-Robie. “It’s also very abundant right now. For natural gas suppliers, turbine supply is more in the tens of gigawatts. For solar modules and battery cells, we’re seeing manufacturing capacities in the terawatts.”
Timelines are a major factor. While project delays challenge the entire energy industry, they’re most severe for fossil fuel and nuclear projects, which can stretch into decades.
Natural gas is sometimes considered a short-term option to help carry the load, but supply constraints are a growing issue. The leading gas turbine manufacturers don’t expect to have sufficient supply to meet new orders until 2030, so they are advising developers to place orders 5 to 7 years in advance. Some projects have been mothballed as a result.
“With solar and battery storage, we’ve seen huge increases in manufacturing capacity and availability,” says Prine-Robie. “That will make it a lot easier to add more supply to the grid while we’re experiencing a huge jump in demand.”
According to Prine-Robie, Sungrow is well-positioned to deploy these solutions at scale. “As the leading provider of PV inverters and integrated energy storage systems, Sungrow has a huge part to play in turning solar power into grid power, and capturing it for when it’s needed the most,” he says.
Fire safety is a major concern for the buyers and neighbors of battery energy storage systems, and an area where Sungrow increases its investment each year. “We’re extremely confident in our fire safety,” says Prine-Robie. “It’s not something that’s just nice to have; it has to be built in from the start. It’s something we’re constantly improving, because not only are the safety requirements increasing — which is good for the industry — but the technology at the cell level is also changing.”
Sungrow works closely with certifying agencies and maintains compliance with key standards, including NFPA and UL certifications. The company has completed large-scale burn tests on multiple generations of its utility-scale storage systems, working with third-party labs to complete fire testing.
In a recent 26-hour test of Sungrow’s latest energy storage product, the PowerTitan 2.0, fully charged batteries were exposed to fire conditions, with no propagation to adjacent containers. The test was live-streamed to demonstrate the system’s behavior under stress.
The company has expanded its global supply chain to address trade challenges, with a large installation base across the U.S. — including California, Texas, and the Northeast — as well as Canada. While most product manufacturing still takes place in Asia, Sungrow continues to grow its U.S. footprint.
“Because of the fundamentals of the market, we’re optimistic about continued growth in renewables, energy storage and PV in the U.S.,” says Prine-Robie. “And we’re seeing strong growth in 2025.”
To learn more, visit sungrowpower.com.