What’s new:
The U.S. energy storage sector just posted its strongest first quarter in history, installing 9.7 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity.
Why it matters:
I don’t like to throw large numbers at you without context. Here’s what you need to know to understand what 9.7 GWh means:
Battery capacity is measured in energy. Energy is power (measured in Watts) times time (expressed in hours). Whenever you see something measured in kilowatt, Megawatt, or Gigawatt hours, that’s a measure of how long that amount of stored energy can power an electrical load. When we’re sizing batteries for home and business owners at Exact Solar, we always ask, “What do you want to power, and for how long?”
It’s enough energy to power ~300,000 homes for a full day in an outage. If that much capacity were backing up New York City, it’d power the whole city for an hour and a half in a full outage.
It’s a ton of energy, and we’re deploying it at breakneck speed. Battery deployment is one of the best solutions to the many problems that we’re facing with energy prices in the U.S.
Wholesale power costs are soaring, and geopolitical tensions continue to drive up fuel costs. Data centers have caused a massive surge in electricity demand.
You don’t need to have a deep understanding of energy markets to know that this is a mess that won’t be easily solved.
Right now, everyone wants power from a grid that was built before many people’s grandparents were born and desperately needs repairs. It’s a perfect storm that’s likely going to get worse before it gets better.
On top of all of this, extreme storms and power outages now happen far more frequently.
What’s standing in the way:
Washington politics.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), 467 solar and storage projects currently have permits pending and are vulnerable to politically motivated delays. Industry leaders warn that stalling these permits threatens American energy security and could push electricity bills even higher.
The U.S. is rapidly building the storage capacity needed to support AI’s power needs and stabilize the grid, but maintaining this momentum will require clearing federal permitting bottlenecks.
Sources
US energy storage has record breaking Q1 2026
