US energy storage installations reached a record 20.2 GWh in the second quarter of 2026
SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence report a record 20.2 GWh of US energy storage installed in Q2 2026, with Arizona alone adding 6.2 GWh in the quarter.
Photo by Deane Bayas on Pexels
The United States installed 20.2 gigawatt-hours of energy storage between April and June 2026, the largest quarter ever recorded. The figure comes from the “U.S. Energy Storage Market Outlook Q3 2026”, published on 1 September 2026 by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. US energy storage additions in that single quarter equalled more than a tenth of everything installed in the country to date, and the two organisations raised their cumulative forecast through 2030 by 11.5 per cent as a result.
Arizona led every state with 6.2 GWh, which the report calls the strongest quarter for any one state on record. Texas added 3.8 GWh and California 3.6 GWh. Utah was named alongside Arizona and Texas as one of the three states driving the quarter. Seven projects of a gigawatt-hour or more came online, four of them in Arizona, two in California and one in Utah.
What the US energy storage figures show
The quarter was more than double the one before it. SEIA reported 9.7 GWh for the first quarter of 2026 in its May release, so the second quarter roughly doubled that pace. The two quarters together are stated as 30.8 GWh for the first half, which the report elsewhere describes as just under 31 GWh and 10.3 GW, a 23 per cent rise in gigawatt-hours year on year. The quarterly components sum to 29.9 GWh rather than 30.8 GWh, a difference the publishers do not explain.
Utility-scale projects supplied almost all of the growth. The press release gives 17.9 GWh of front-of-meter capacity for the quarter, while the report page gives 18.0 GWh. Commercial and industrial storage added 1.8 GWh. Residential storage added 657 megawatt-hours, which the report records as a 27 per cent fall year on year, the only segment to shrink.
| US energy storage, Q2 2026 | Capacity | Change |
|---|---|---|
| All segments | 20.2 GWh / 6.7 GW | Largest quarter on record |
| Utility-scale | 17.9 GWh (18.0 GWh on the report page) | Almost all of the total |
| Commercial and industrial | 1.8 GWh | Not stated |
| Residential | 657 MWh | Down 27% year on year |
| First half 2026, all segments | 30.8 GWh / 10.3 GW | Up 23% year on year in GWh |
| Full year 2025, all segments | 57.6 GWh | Up 30% on 2024 |
Source: SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Q3 2026 and February 2026 releases.
Where the capacity went
Three states took the bulk of the quarter. Arizona’s 6.2 GWh is close to the combined total of Texas and California, and the report separately notes that Arizona, California, Utah and Texas each deployed more than 2.5 GWh of utility-scale capacity. More than 74 per cent of the capacity installed in the quarter was built in states won by President Donald Trump in 2024. Shan Tomouk, BESS and energy lead at Benchmark Minerals, stated that “Energy storage is no longer just a California and Texas story anymore”, and pointed to pipeline growth in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Colorado.
Canary Media, which covered the release the same day, put the quarter’s 6.7 GW of instantaneous power at close to seven conventional nuclear reactors, and reported that 44 per cent of the new capacity was built alongside solar plants. The trade title Energy-Storage.news gives the co-location figure more precisely as 44 per cent of new utility-scale capacity, with the remaining 56 per cent standalone. Winss has tracked the same pairing in the Ember report that says batteries have unlocked anytime solar and in the record set by solar and storage in H1 2026.
The fleet and the forecast
SEIA states that utility-scale energy storage capacity “has nearly doubled from 88 GWh to 165 GWh in the first 18 months of the Trump administration”. That is cumulative front-of-meter capacity measured from January 2025 to the end of June 2026, and it is a utility-scale figure rather than a whole-market one. Some coverage repeated it without the qualifier.
The demand has moved the forecast. The Q3 2026 edition puts cumulative installations through 2030 at 683 GWh, an 11.5 per cent increase on the previous quarterly edition, which projected over 610 GWh in May 2026. The inaugural edition, published in February 2026, projected over 600 GWh. Tim Pawlenty, president and chief executive of the Solar Energy Industries Association, stated that “storage is a powerful reliability tool that strengthens our energy security, meets rising demand and puts downward pressure on electricity bills”.
| Forecast for cumulative US storage through 2030 | Figure | Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 edition, February 2026 | Over 600 GWh | First edition |
| Q2 2026 edition, May 2026 | Over 610 GWh | Second edition |
| Q3 2026 edition, September 2026 | 683 GWh | Up 11.5% on the prior edition |
Source: SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence quarterly releases, February, May and September 2026.
Manufacturing is following the deployment. The quarter saw two new battery cell plants announced in Ohio and Tennessee and a 50 GWh battery module facility in Texas. The report puts planned North American battery storage manufacturing capacity at more than 250 GWh. Global context for the US numbers is set out in the IEA finding that battery storage hit a record 108 GW in 2025, and the mechanics of how these systems earn money are covered in grid-scale battery storage, explained.
The policy risk running the other way
The record landed in the same week as a federal restriction that analysts expect to slow the sector. On 26 August 2026 an executive order took effect restricting foreign-produced bulk power components, including batteries, transformers, inverters and related digital products, from connecting to the US grid. BloombergNEF analysts told Utility Dive that battery storage faces more near-term risk from the order than other industries. Zoe Zakrzewska, a BNEF trade and supply chains analyst, stated that batteries and inverters “are the two technologies that are clearly subject to both of these sets of rules”.
The exposure is concentrated. The International Energy Agency puts China at 80 per cent of global lithium-ion battery supply chain production capacity, and BNEF estimates that Chinese inverter makers supplied about 40 per cent of US inverter volumes in 2025 from production hubs in India and Southeast Asia. BNEF did not publish a quantified estimate of delayed or cancelled capacity. Four battery plants have come online in the US so far this year, with a few more expected by year end. Individual project milestones on the deployment side continue, including Arevon’s 1,200 MWh Nighthawk battery starting operation and Eolian’s start on Ohio’s largest battery storage project.
About SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
The Solar Energy Industries Association was founded in 1974 and is based in Washington, D.C. It is the national trade association for the US solar and solar plus storage industries and works with about 1,200 member companies. Tim Pawlenty, a former governor of Minnesota, is its president and chief executive; Darren Van’t Hof held the role on an interim basis as recently as May 2026.
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence was formed in 2014 and is headquartered in London. It assesses market prices, supply chain data and forecasts for lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, energy storage and rare earth permanent magnets, and describes itself as a price reporting agency assured to IOSCO Type 2 standards. The two organisations began co-publishing the quarterly “U.S. Energy Storage Market Outlook” in February 2026, drawing on Benchmark’s proprietary grid and behind-the-meter data. The Q3 2026 edition is the third, and the first to record a quarter above 20 GWh.
Sources: Solar Energy Industries Association; Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence; Canary Media; Utility Dive; Solar Energy Industries Association; Solar Energy Industries Association; Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
Featured image: photo by Deane Bayas on Pexels (free Pexels license).
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
