US battery storage installations broke records for the second straight year
18.9 gigawatts of battery storage went into the US grid in 2025, 52 percent more than 2024, spread across 13 states rather than concentrated in the usual two.
December 2025 · North America
Retrospective analysis of December 2025. Published August 2026.
The American Clean Power Association and Wood Mackenzie's U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, published 24 March 2026, recorded 18.9 gigawatts of battery energy storage system installations across the United States in 2025, a 52 percent increase over 2024 and the largest annual total on record. Utility scale storage accounted for most of that growth, and the fourth quarter alone set a new quarterly record at 5.8 gigawatts, with utility scale installations up 31 percent year over year. New activity spread across 13 different states, a shift the report frames as diversification beyond the historical concentration in California and Texas.
The Signal
ACP and Wood Mackenzie's U.S. Energy Storage Monitor recorded 18.9 GW of battery storage installed in the US in 2025, up 52 percent from 2024, with Q4 2025 setting a new quarterly record of 5.8 GW and installations spreading across 13 states.
Why It Matters
A 52 percent single year increase, on top of an already growing base, means storage co-location is moving from a project specific decision to a default assumption for new generation in most US markets. The state diversification detail matters as much as the topline number, since it signals the economics are starting to work outside the two markets that had the most favorable rate structures and permitting environments.
The System Connection
Storage deployment at this scale interacts directly with the interconnection queue constraints we have tracked as the binding factor on new generation, storage can sometimes qualify for faster interconnection paths than paired generation, which is reshaping how projects are sequenced and permitted.
Development Implication
Projects in the 11 states outside the historical California and Texas concentration should reassess whether storage co-location assumptions that looked marginal a year or two ago still hold, given how fast the deployment base has shifted.
What We Are Watching
- Whether the pace of state diversification continues or concentrates again as tax and trade policy settles.
- Interconnection queue data specifically for storage versus paired generation applications.
- The next annual report's read on whether 2025's growth rate is sustainable or a one time catch up.
