The US added a record 20.2 GWh of battery storage in just 3 months

The US battery storage market had its biggest quarter ever this spring, adding 20.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity, according to industry data from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. That brought total installations for the first half of the year to 30.8 GWh, up 23% from a year earlier. Almost all of this growth came from large grid-scale batteries, which store electricity when it's cheap and release it during high-demand periods, like hot summer evenings when air conditioning use is high but solar power is fading. Arizona, Texas, and California led the way, with Arizona posting the strongest single-state quarter on record.

For homeowners, the more relevant number is smaller and less encouraging: residential battery installations dropped 27% compared to last year, adding just 657 megawatt-hours nationwide. The report ties this decline to the end of the federal 25D tax credit for home clean energy systems, plus many homeowners rushing to install batteries in 2025 before that incentive went away. Forecasters expect home battery installations to fall further this year, even though rising electricity costs, changing net-metering rules, and utility programs that pay homeowners for battery use could make batteries more appealing over time.

Overall, the report projects the US will install about 71 GWh of battery storage in 2026, roughly 20% more than last year, driven mainly by utilities and large-scale projects rather than home installations.