US energy storage roll-out up 45% in 2018, says new report

Installations of energy storage in the United States jumped by 44.9% last year, according to trade body the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). A new report from the organisation estimates a grand total of 760.3MWh of energy storage was interconnected US-wide in 2018, hitting a cumulative market size of 1,966.6MWh. According to SEPA, investor-owned utilities (IOUs) dominated last year, accounting for 64.3% (488.6MWh) of nation-wide energy storage installations. However, public power utilities and electric cooperatives were on catch-up mode after seeing a dramatic ramp-up in 2018, SEPA found. They interconnected 271.7MWh of storage last year – a whopping 300% jump from 2017. Public power was the fastest growing segment, increasing by more than 1,400%.