Well over half of North America faces a potential shortage of electricity supplies in the coming years, compounded by surging demand growth, accelerating generator retirements, and delays in resource development, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has warned in its latest 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment (LTRA).
“Simply put, our infrastructure is not being built fast enough to keep up with the rising demand,” said John Moura, NERC’s director of Reliability Assessments and Planning Analysis. “Collaboration, urgency, and foresight are really not negotiable. Policymakers, industry leaders, and stakeholders across North America must work together to enable the expansion of the bulk power system [and] ensure new resources can interconnect effectively, reliably, and also maintain reliability that society depends on,” he said.
Following are the assessment’s most remarkable findings.
Midwest needs to get on the ball and get more battery storage on their grids.
More Records for U.S. Energy Storage Deployment
The U.S. energy storage market continued its strong growth in third quarter of this year, with the grid-scale segment setting new quarterly records for deployments. That’s according to the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) and Wood Mackenzie’s latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report released Dec. 12.
The report said Q3 set the highest record for third-quarter installations, with a total of 3,806 MW and 9,931 MWh deployed, an 80% and 58% increase, respectively, over year-ago numbers.
Texas and California Markets Show No Signs of Slowing
Grid-scale energy storage deployments in both Texas and California were robust in Q3, as the two markets continue to embrace storage as a grid solution. Texas tripled installations compared to the previous quarter with nearly 1.7 GW added, and California produced the highest GWh of installations with nearly 6 GWh added, thanks to its focus on longer duration plants.
Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Vermont also saw installations in Q3, showing an appetite for grid-scale storage deployment across the country.
“We are seeing the energy storage industry fill a real need across the country to provide reliability in an affordable and efficient manner for communities,” said John Hensley, SVP, Markets and Policy Analysis for ACP. “With 64 GW of new energy storage expected in the next four years, the market signal continues to be clear that energy storage is a critical component of the grid moving forward.”
Grid-Scale and Residential Sectors Will Lead Future Growth
The grid-scale and residential segments will continue to lead the market, with grid-scale installations projected to more than double by 2028 to reach a cumulative volume of 63.7 GW, and residential installing 10 GW of storage in the same time period.
