US BATTERY STORAGE: 2023 capacity climbs to 17.4 GW, up 73% on year

Total operating US battery storage capacity ended last year at 17.375 GW, up 73% or 7.3 GW from capacity at the end of 2022, with the biggest gains in the California, Texas and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. Another 5.1 GW of capacity is expected to be operational in the first quarter, continuing the rapid growth of battery storage across the country.

There was 2.686 GW of capacity added during the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 18.3% quarter on quarter, according to an S&P Global Commodity Insights compilation of government filings and company announcements. The data includes facilities that either began commercial operation or were synchronized to the grid.

The California Independent System Operator leads the nation in battery storage capacity with 8.05 GW, or 46.3% of total US capacity, according to the data.

Lithium prices fall

Weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicles in the near term and global lithium oversupply have sent lithium prices spiraling down from record highs in 2022.

The Platts assessment for lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide on a CIF North Asia basis have held at $13,500/mt and $13,000/mt, respectively, for most of February, according to S&P Global data. Prices may have bottomed out after both assessments have fallen to their lowest levels since mid-2021 and far below their respective record peaks over $80,000/mt in 2022.

These conditions may encourage early stage lithium producers to pursue more supply opportunities for energy storage systems. In a Feb. 22 earnings call, Piedmont Lithium CEO Keith Phillips said the company has always focused far more on the EV market over ESS, but the latter is growing in significance.

"ESS is a really important part of the overall lithium macro story," he said. "It's growing more quickly and it's at an earlier stage, but it's growing more quickly than EV demand for lithium."

Phillips said lithium ESS demand is expected to grow almost 50% in 2024.

Q4 battery additions

CAISO returned as the region that added the most capacity in Q4, with 1.082 GW, or 40.45% of total US additions, according to the data. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas followed with 1.047 GW, or 39.14% of the US total additions. WECC added 493 MW, accounting for 18.4% of Q4 additions.

Not surprisingly, the largest projects completed in Q4 were located in those three regions:

• CIM Group's 225-MW Westlands Solar Blue in California
• Nevada Power Company's 220-MW Reid Gardner in Nevada
• ENGIE North America's 206.2-MW Libra Storage in Texas
• Terra-Gen Power's 169-MW Sanborn BESS 3 in California
• TotalEnergies Holdings USA's 152.4-MW Danish Fields Storage in Texas

Westlands Solar Blue was previously slated for Q3, but was pushed back to Q4. Likewise, Terra-Gen Power's 169-MW Sanborn BESS 3 in California, originally slated for Q3, was pushed back to Q4.

Duke Energy Florida's 2.5-MW John Hopkins Middle School Microgrid was the only facility added in FRCC in Q4 2023

The largest battery storage facility in operation is Florida Power and Light's 409-MW Manatee Energy Storage Center, which started operations in Q4 2021. The second largest is Vistra Energy's 350-MW Moss Landing Energy Storage 3 in California, which started operations in Q3 2024.

Company and state rankings

NextEra Energy Resources remains the company with the most operating battery storage capacity in the US with 2.814 GW, despite not adding any facilities in Q4, according to the data. With 499 MW added in Q4, Terra-Gen Power now ranks second for most US capacity with 1.179 GW, which bumped Vistra Energy to third with 1.023 GW as it did not add any facilities in Q4. Rounding out the top five companies by capacity are Enel Green Power North America with 745.8 MW, after adding 144.6 MW in Q4, and Axium Infrastructure with 737.6 MW MW, after adding 4.8 MW.

At the state level, California leads US battery storage capacity with 8.315 GW, followed by Texas with 5.098 GW, Arizona with 938 MW, Nevada with 560 MW and Florida with 545 MW. There are 10 states with over 100 MW capacity and 12 states with less than 10 MW, while 11 states have no battery storage capacity.

"The amount of battery storage capacity under development has soared over the past two years," the American Clean Power Association said in its Q3 report. "At the end of Q3, the battery storage pipeline has expanded by 50% year-over-year, and has grown by an average of 10% each quarter."

The battery storage project pipeline consists of 262 projects under construction or in advanced development, for a total capacity of 21,445 MW/62,109 MWh, according to ACP.

Q1 expectations

If all 5.189 GW of proposed Q1 additions are completed and connected to the grid, it would bring the US total to over 22.5 GW, a nearly 30% quarter-on-quarter jump, according to the data compiled.

Planned Q1 additions are mostly focused in the West and ERCOT, with only 7.4% outside of those regions. Developers in CAISO are expected to add nearly 1.7 GW, or 33.2% of all US planned additions, while the ERCOT footprint is projected to add 1.65 GW, or 32.5% of Q1 additions, followed by WECC with 1.36 GW, or 27%.

These are the top five largest projects proposed to be completed in Q1 out of the 76 proposed facilities:

1. Primergy Solar's 380-MW Solar Partners XI in Nevada
2. Orstead North America's 300-MW Eleven Mile Solar Center in Arizona
3. Nextera Energy Resources' 230-MW Sunlight Storage II in California
4. ENGIE North America's 220.8-MW Five Wells Storage in Texas
5. Leeward Renewable Energy's 201.1-MW Morrow Lake Storage in Texas

Solar Partners XI was previously slated for Q4, but was pushed back to Q1. In Q1, Diamond Generating Corporation's 5.7-MW Watertown Renewables is expected to be the only facility added in the New York Independent System Operator footprint.

Besides the combined 4.7 GW planned in CAISO, WECC and ERCOT, there is 135 MW slated in Midcontinent Independent System Operator, 134 MW proposed for the PJM Interconnection, 100 MW expected in Southeast states, 10 MW planned in ISO New England, and 5.7 MW expected in the NYISO.

Looking further out, WECC and CAISO combined are projected to climb to 13.2 GW of battery storage capacity by the end of 2024 and 18.8 GW in 2025, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights. ERCOT follows and is expected to reach over 6.7 GW in 2024 and 8.7 GW the following year. MISO and NYISO are expected to surpass 1 GW in 2025, while ISO New England, PJM and the Southeast are slated to reach that milestone in 2026.