WASHINGTON D.C. — The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is unveiling a vision for the future of energy storage in the United States, setting an ambitious target to deploy 10 million distributed storage installations and reach 700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of total installed storage capacity by 2030.
These targets are part of a new whitepaper that analyzes the economic and energy security imperative of a strong storage sector. The whitepaper outlines policy recommendations to open markets for storage development, build financial support, grow a domestic storage supply chain, and progress long-duration storage technology.
In addition, SEIA is releasing a new 50-state guide to energy storage policies at the state level.
“Expanding energy storage capacity is a crucial means of ensuring our nation’s energy security and resilience,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “As demand for energy soars, storage helps turn quick-to-build, low-cost solar generation into clean, dispatchable power, ensuring our grid can adapt to challenges, support critical infrastructure, and deliver reliable power to every community.”
According to Wood Mackenzie, there is 83 GWh of installed energy storage capacity in the United States, including nearly 500,000 distributed storage installations. Current forecasts show that U.S. storage capacity is expected to reach 450 GWh by 2030, falling short of the capacity required to support our nation’s energy needs.
The whitepaper calls on states, regional transmission organizations, and the federal government to take action to accelerate storage deployment and manufacturing. These actions include:
- Preserving the federal tax credit for standalone storage
- Ensuring equal grid access and fair compensation to storage for grid services
- Reforming interconnection processes to account for storage flexibility
- Establishing affordable retail rates for storage charging
- Supporting domestic manufacturing with targeted trade policies and streamlined permitting
- Implementing state-level procurement programs
- Emphasizing investments in low-income communities, including areas disproportionately impacted by extreme weather and poor air quality
- Investing in further development of long-duration storage
“The U.S. storage market is at an inflection point, but with the mix of policy support and private, state and federal collaboration, we can achieve SEIA’s storage targets while creating jobs and ensuring reliable, around the clock power for every home and business in this county,” said Joan White, SEIA’s director of storage and interconnection.
Access the full whitepaper and learn more about SEIA’s energy storage advocacy work.