The U.S. energy storage market added 955 MW and 2,875 MWh of new installations across all segments in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, taking the total grid-scale installations capacity to 2.3 GWh.

According to the U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report released jointly by global research firm Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association (ACP), grid-scale installations in the U.S. were up four times the volume in Q1 2021, despite project delays and procurement challenges due to supply chain constraints.

Even as the projections for hybrid projects lowered significantly owing to market disruption from the anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/ CVD), grid-scale deployments improved in the U.S.

The Biden administration recently declared a 24-month duty exemption on solar modules and cells from four South Asian countries, relieving the solar and energy storage sector of the uncertainty it faced regarding the supply of components.

Vice President of Research and Analytics at ACP, John Hensley, observed, “The Biden Administration’s recent decision to pause AD/CVD solar tariffs for two years restores predictability to both the solar and energy storage markets. With well over 50% of utility storage projects being paired with solar farms, this important executive action will help the energy storage market continue to accelerate.”

It was also a significant quarter for the residential energy storage sector, with installations totaling 334 MWh, a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase of 18% from 283 MWh installations in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The report projects that with the current pace, the country’s residential ESS segment would grow by 5.7 GWh annually by 2026, with California’s Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0 expected to align with the California Public Utilities Commission’s December 2021 proposed decision with implementation now on a delayed schedule.

Senior Analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s ESS team, Vanessa Witte, said, Quarter one of 2022 was the largest first quarter on record for grid-scale installations, a notable milestone since installations are typically back-weighted to the year’s second half. The West Coast and Southwest regions continue to dominate for both standalone and hybrid systems.”

While the non-residential energy storage market is projected to grow 1 GW annually, the raw material and equipment procurement delays have downgraded the overall market forecast.

The U.S. installed 910 MWh of new energy storage systems in Q1 2021, a 252% surge in installations compared to the first quarter of 2020. However, the non-residential market (commercial and community-scale) witnessed a slow growth with 25 to 35 MW of new projects installed in the last five quarters.