Battery storage capacity averaged 70% growth over the last three years

Battery storage on the U.S. power grid has grown fast, averaging 70% growth a year over the last three years. By the end of 2025, the country had 43.6 gigawatts of battery storage capacity connected to the grid. In just the first six months of 2026, operators added another 8.3 gigawatts, bringing the total to nearly 52 gigawatts. This is utility-scale storage, the large batteries power companies use, not the kind installed at individual homes.

Operators plan to keep building. They expect to add 54 more gigawatts over the next two and a half years: 14 gigawatts in the second half of this year, 26 gigawatts in 2027, and 14 gigawatts in 2028. Much of this new capacity is paired with solar power plants. The largest example, the Bellefield Solar and Energy Storage Farm in California, combines 500 megawatts of solar panels with 500 megawatts of battery storage, and plans call for doubling that size by November. Other big projects include the Manatee Solar Energy Center in Florida and the Gemini Solar Hybrid in Nevada.

Pairing solar with batteries lets power companies store electricity when it is cheap and sell it later when demand and prices rise. This doesn't change what's available to homeowners directly, but it points to where the broader grid is headed: more solar-plus-storage capacity feeding into the system that powers your house. As this capacity keeps expanding, it may shape how utilities price electricity and manage demand in the years ahead.