(Photo Credit: RES)The energy storage project pipeline in the United States doubled in 2018 to reach 32.9 gigawatts, according to the newly released US Energy Storage Monitor published by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Energy Storage Association (ESA).
The US Energy Storage Monitor tracks front-of-the-meter, residential, and non-residential quarterly deployments across all segments. California leads the energy storage project pipeline, the report says, but it also points to increased interest in state markets that include Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
Released this week, the latest report shows a total of 136.3 megawatt-hours of storage deployed in Q3 2018, up from 44 megawatt-hours in the same quarter last year. Wood Mackenzie forecasts that, in all, 686 megawatt-hours of energy storage will be deployed in 2018.
Although the behind-the-meter segment that includes commercial energy storage deployments was down 24% from the second quarter of this year, the third quarter was still the second strongest quarter on record, the report authors say. For the second quarter in a row, more behind-the-meter storage was deployed in one quarter than was deployed in all of 2017, the report shows.
The report notes that more long-duration projects are coming online for services like capacity and load-shifting, Wood Mackenzie and the ESA say. “In quarters and years past, the US has seen more frequency regulation projects which generally have less than one-hour discharge durations.”
“Developers in markets across the entire country are seeing the raw economic potential that energy storage can provide, and they’re trying to get their foot in the door in key interconnection territories prior to FERC Order 841 mandated changes going into effect,” said Dan Finn-Foley, senior energy storage analyst with Wood Mackenzie.
Finn-Foley added that, outside of the raw megawatt numbers, this year saw proposed projects or utility investment across the country. “With everything energy storage can do, there really is no US market that isn’t emerging as an opportunity,” he said.
