US deploys 910 MWh of energy storage in Q1 2021

A total of 910 MWh of energy storage systems came online in the US in the first quarter of 2021, showing a year-over-year rise of 252% and marking a record first quarter for the US storage market.

This is according to the latest US Energy Storage Monitor report by Wood Mackenzie and the US Energy Storage Association (ESA).

While installations were down from the record storage deployments seen in the fourth quarter of 2020, Wood Mackenzie expects that in the whole of 2021 nearly 12,000 MWh of storage will be added, three times the 2020 additions.

In the first quarter of 2021, a stand-alone storage investment tax credit (ITC) was introduced in Congress. Wood Mackenzie said that if passed this year, it would lead to a 20-25% upgrade to the firm’s five-year market outlook.

“An extra 20 to 25% growth for the US market over the next five years would supercharge an already fast-growing energy storage market,” said Wood Mackenzie energy storage analyst Chloe Holden. “The front-of-the-meter (FTM) segment would see the largest incremental growth, with an extra 6 GW of capacity expected through 2025, which is 25% of our base case market forecast,” Holden added.

The residential storage market has now grown for nine quarters running and passed 100 MW of quarterly installations for the first time in the first quarter of 2021. California is expected to lead the residential segment through 2026.

The commercial and community-scale market is not growing as fast as the other sectors, registering between 25 MW and 35 MW of deployments in the last five quarters.

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