The US installed 126.3 MWh of energy storage capacity in the first quarter of 2018, with record quarterly deployments registered in the residential segment, shows a report by GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association (ESA).
Although new installations were down 46% year-on-year, they were up 26% quarter-on-quarter. “The growing list of states and markets ready to take action and remove barriers to cost-effective energy storage deployment promises the remainder of 2018 will yield similarly positive results,” said ESA’s CEO Kelly Speakes-Backman, adding that the industry is moving closer to its vision of 35 GW of installations by 2025.
According to GTM, the US energy storage market will grow 14 times in dollar value between 2017 and 2023, crossing the USD-1-billion threshold in 2019. In 2020 the value is seen to almost double due to a number of front-of-the-meter projects.
Front-of-the-meter installations had a substantial share of 51% in the first quarter, and the residential segment hit 35.8 MWh of grid-connected energy storage systems, setting a new quarterly record. Total deployments in the three months were equal to the cumulative residential storage installations in the preceding three quarters.
GTM Research forecasts that annual residential energy storage deployments will exceed 1,000 MWh in 2020.
“Changing net-metering rules and increasing customer interest in backup and solar self-consumption drove the residential energy storage market’s record quarter,” said Brett Simon, senior analyst at GTM Research and project manager for the US Energy Storage Monitor report. He notes that more solar installers are offering residential storage products as utilities are setting time-of-use rates and reducing net-metering compensation.
Residential energy storage deployments in January-March were largely driven by California and Hawaii, which together accounted for 74% of all installations. Overall, the residential segment was responsible for 28% of the fresh energy storage capacity in the quarter. Around 21% of the entire deployed capacity came from the non-residential sector, which saw installations almost tripling in annual terms.
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Quarterly residential energy storage deployments in US (MWh). Source: GTM
