Utility-scale installations reached approximately 18 gigawatt-hours during the second quarter, led by major projects in Arizona, Texas, and California. While grid-level projects boomed, home battery installations tumbled 27% year over year following the removal of the federal 25D clean energy tax credit. Commercial and industrial projects contributed an additional 1.8 gigawatt-hours to the total. Buoyed by these overall gains, forecasters at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence upgraded their full-year national projection to roughly 71 gigawatt-hours.
Key points
Battery installations are diversifying geographically, with over 74 percent of new quarte…: Battery installations are diversifying geographically, with over 74 percent of new quarterly capacity deployed in states won by Donald Trump.
The U.S. grid-scale market is growing fast enough to outperform its entire previous year…: The U.S. grid-scale market is growing fast enough to outperform its entire previous year of power delivery within eight months.
National forecasts now anticipate roughly 71 gigawatt-hours of storage additions across 2…: National forecasts now anticipate roughly 71 gigawatt-hours of storage additions across 2026 to support surging grid demand.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
The US battery storage market just posted its biggest quarter ever, adding 20.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity in Q2 2026.
The record quarter brought total battery storage installations for the first half of 2026 to 30.8 GWh – up 23% year over year – according to the new “US Energy Storage Market Outlook” from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
Utility-scale batteries drove the record
Nearly all the growth came from large grid batteries. Utility-scale projects accounted for about 18 GWh of Q2 installations, supported by seven gigawatt-hour-scale projects – four in Arizona, two in California, and one in Utah.
Arizona alone added a record 6.2 GWh, the strongest quarter ever recorded by a single state. Texas added 3.8 GWh, and California installed another 3.6 GWh. Of the utility-scale capacity installed during the quarter, 44% was paired with solar, while 56% was standalone storage.
That matters because batteries can charge when electricity is abundant and relatively cheap, then send it back to the grid when demand and prices rise. During extreme heat, that stored electricity…
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