SEIA’s Vision for American Energy Storage 

Introduction

Solar and storage are a dynamic pair, and together are forming the backbone of a clean, resilient, and reliable electricity system.  

Just a few years ago, energy storage was a small part of our electric grid. Now, with domestic manufacturing and installations at all-time highs, energy storage has taken a more central role in grid operations. By increasing reliability and lowering costs, energy storage is demonstrating its value for customers, utilities and grid operators.  

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What’s Next: 

Energy storage is critical to America’s energy security, abundance and dominance in 2025 and beyond. The steadily rising need for electricity is driven by overall economic growth, AI development and new data centers, aging infrastructure and weather-related grid disruptions. Energy storage also plays a key role in enhancing and supporting solar as it is rapidly adopted by consumers and utilities. 

To support our vision for a reliable and abundant energy system, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is establishing   goals for battery storage adoption in the United States and outlining a policy blueprint to facilitate that growth.  

By 2030, we aim to reach 10 million distributed installations, with a larger goal of 700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) total of installed battery capacity across all market segments. To continue to strengthen the power system and meet customer needs, more electricity will come from renewable sources. To match power supply to demand and realize the full range of grid benefits will require accelerating deployment of energy storage and optimization of clean energy assets. Studies show that with about 700 GWhs of storage, utilities and grid operators will be able to integrate this new renewable energy.  

SEIA is also setting sub-targets for residential, community, and grid scale storage adoption. By 2030, we aim for 20% of all storage installations to occur in the residential, commercial, and community segments and 80% of storage installations to occur in the transmission-connected segment. The distributed storage targets equate to around 10 million installations, or 140 GWh. The bulk of our target will likely be met by grid scale storage, at 560 GWh by 2030.  

If we reach our target, renewables and energy storage will work seamlessly together to meet the daily ebbs and flows of electricity usage.  Solar produced in the middle of the day when demand is lower will be used to recharge energy storage systems.  As load increases throughout the day, and the batteries have been charged, solar energy will power the grid into the late afternoon and evening when total demand peaks.  Then, as the sun begins to set, grid operators will dispatch their batteries to ease the transition from day to night and keep the grid reliable and clean.   

Energy storage can smooth electricity prices, lower the risk of service disruptions, provide the capability to re-start power quickly after a major outage, provide backup power, ease congestion on the transmission network, and create the opportunity to maximize asset value by participating in wholesale energy markets. 

For consumers, energy storage provides backup power during outages, lowers energy bills by storing excess solar power for use when solar panels aren’t generating, and increases energy independence by reducing reliance on the grid. 

To fully utilize the thousands of gigawatts of renewable energy that will connect to the grid, and to enhance reliability and resilience, the U.S. needs more storage than is currently planned.  Increasing deployment to 700 GWh by 2030 is a better match for the pace of forecasted load growth and renewable deployment that is being unleashed.  Having a robust level of storage ready to deploy will allow grid operators to fully use midday excess solar energy to power the grid during nighttime hours.   

With support from policymakers and regulators, energy storage can help America keep the lights on and the economy growing.