Battery installations reached a record 20.2 gigawatt-hours in the US in the second quarter of 2026, enough to power about 700,000 homes for a day. The pace puts the country on track for 71 gigawatt-hours installed this year, a 20% increase over 2025.

The record was driven by cheaper batteries and demand for storage as solar and onshore wind join the grid. Utility-scale systems led the quarter, with seven new gigascale installations of more than one gigawatt-hour. “It really came down to a handful of big projects,” says Shan Tomouk, energy storage and energy lead for Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

Behind-the-meter batteries also grew, especially at data centers, which accounted for about three-quarters of new commercial-sector projects. Residential installations are projected to fall 16% in 2026 after the tax credit that subsidized home batteries ended in 2025. Shan Tomouk says they should recover by the end of the decade.

Nearly all batteries still use cells made in China, though some are assembled into complete systems in the US. Domestic factories are expected to meet demand only around 2030, when prices could rise.

“This is one of the strong sectors in the US,” says Isshu Kikuma, an energy storage analyst at Bloomberg NEF.

The report was published by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and the Solar Energy Industries Association.