PJM region and California dominate US storage via different paths
EIA’s snapshot of the battery storage market shows the two jurisdictions dominating.
hile much of the U.S. activity surrounding energy storage has been focused on California and the PJM region, the locus of activity is expected to expand as states like New York and Massachusetts implement ambitious storage goals.
A new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that gives a snapshot of the energy storage landscape shows how differing policy drivers have led to the proliferation of large capacity and short duration storage projects in the PJM region while California leads in terms of MWh of capacity.
The report also notes that California’s policy mandates mean that energy storage deployments in the state tend to serve a wider array of applications than those in PJM. The output of many California storage projects is procured by regulated utilities to serve multiple applications without necessarily being directly compensated for each application through market mechanisms.
Continued growth
The market trends report notes that installed power capacity for battery storage has nearly doubled every two years since 2011, hitting 708 MW of power capacity and 867 MWh of energy capacity by the end of 2017.
EIA, an arm of the Department of Energy, expects that growth trend to continue. Project developers have reported to the agency that they expect to bring 239 MW of large-scale battery storage projects online in the U.S. between 2018 and 2021. The EIA notes that number could be just “an indicator of trends” because the short planning period needed for a battery storage project means even more projects could be proposed in that time frame.
In comparison, the U.S Energy Storage Monitor from GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association reported that 100 MWh of grid-connected energy storage were deployed in the fourth quarter of the year, making for a total of 1,080 MWh deployed between 2013 and 2017. That amount covers battery storage along with other forms of storage, such as pumped hydro.
