Understanding the Impact of Grid-Scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Advancements

In the past decade, there’s been a surge in the development and deployment of grid-scale batteries in the US. This surge is reshaping the energy landscape. Here’s what you need to know.

The Battery Energy Storage Landscape Is Changing

The installation of grid-scale battery energy storage systems experienced a substantial boom in 2023, with the US storage market hitting a new high in the third quarter of 2023. According to the newest US Energy Storage Monitor Report, the US grid-scale segment saw installations increase 27% quarter-on-quarter to 6,848 MWh, which broke quarterly records for both megawatts (MW) and megawatt-hours (MWh) installed.

According to McKinsey, more than $5 billion was invested in battery energy storage systems (BESS) in 2022 – almost a threefold increase from the previous year. The US utility-scale BESS sector is expected to grow around 29 percent per year for the rest of this decade, a four-fold increase (see image below). 

Furthermore, the global BESS market is expected to reach between $120 billion and $150 billion by 2030, more than double its size today. (See our previous blog on how battery energy storage systems work.)

Battery Development Increases in CAISO

According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), battery storage growth is primarily expected to increase in the West and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). 

Rand, Joseph et al. 2023."Queued Up: Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection As of the End of 2022” page 31. https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/queued_up_2022_04-06-2023.pdf

Let’s take a closer look at BESS growth across independent system operators (ISOs) over the past three years. In the chart below, we see substantial growth in battery energy storage systems that have come online in CAISO and ERCOT. 

EIA. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/ 

In Q3 of 2023 alone, CAISO saw a significant 35% increase in battery storage installations. 

Using Yes Energy®’s New Build Dataset, we can see where new battery energy storage systems are being built. Below we can see all upcoming and operating battery storage projects in CAISO. Understanding energy storage additions to the grid is critical for a broad spectrum of market participants from asset developers to traders to independent power producers (IPPs) as batteries are expected to decrease price volatility in certain parts of the grid due to their flexible and price-responsive nature.

Battery Operations in CAISO

Now let’s take a closer look at a single battery to analyze its operations. In the image below, we drill down into the FERC EQR Dataset to track how a single battery is operating. Using this data we can look at how existing batteries operate. The image below shows Ventura Energy Storage total MWs sold to CAISO by product for a day in September 2023, according to FERC EQR data.

The ability to see how a battery is operating at a granular level is helpful to market participants, including battery operators who need to understand how nearby and similar batteries are operating and asset developers who need to benchmark financial projections against actual asset operations.  

Unlock Deep Insights into Energy Storage Systems

Yes Energy’s New Build Dataset and FERC EQR Dataset give you the insight you need to Win the Day Ahead™. Unlock deep insights into the ever-evolving status of planned generation, transmission, and load center facilities coming online or retiring across the US. Request a demo to see how your organization can better understand upcoming projects affecting the power grid, including battery energy storage systems.