New 100GW US energy storage goal ‘entirely reasonable and attainable’, says ESA

The Salt River battery storage project in Arizona. Image: NextEra.

The US Energy Storage Association (ESA) has adopted a target of 100GW of energy storage capacity in the country by 2030, a capacity it said would help facilitate greater penetration of renewables.

The figure, which serves as an upgrade on a previous target of 35GW by 2025, was unveiled during the trade body’s annual conference and described by chief executive Kelly Speakes-Backman as “entirely reasonable and attainable”.

But, Speakes-Backman added, reaching such a goal would require the “right policies and regulatory frameworks” to be in place. That policy environment has been described in detail within a ‘vision paper’ – dubbed ‘100 x 30: Enabling the clean power transformation’ – also released yesterday.

Also speaking on the opening day of the event was US Department of Energy deputy secretary Mark Menezes, who said in a keynote address that his department recognised the importance of energy storage and reiterated its commitment to a technology that would support deeper penetration of renewable energy on US grids.

While storage deployment has slightly lagged behind the original 35GW by 2025 vision crafted by ESA with help from Navigant Research (now known as Guidehouse Insights), with BloombergNEF predicting around 32GW by then and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables about 28GW, analysis all points to an accelerating rate of deployment.

Indeed the three analysis and research firms between them predict around 85GW to 95GW by 2030. ESA argues that with policies to further stimulate higher shares of renewables on the grid, the 100GW figure is achievable. 100GW would support an aim of 50% renewables by 2030 across the country - an aim shared by ESA together with other prominent renewable and clean energy trade associations including groups representing the wind, solar and hydropower industries. The latter, incidentally, includes 16GW of new pumped storage in its 2030 vision, which ESA also backs.

Tags: energy storage, battery storage, esa, us, policy, regulation, renewables, decarbonisation