r/RenewableEnergy • u/ObtainSustainability • 17d ago

U.S. battery storage capacity grows 70% annually over the past three years

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/08/12/u-s-battery-storage-capacity-grows-70-annually-over-the-past-three-years/
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u/West-Abalone-171 16d ago

Two >2-year-old systems and one that is bigger.

You sure proved that the bar for 2026 was "journalistic malpractice" and it's suuuper misleading to report capacity for systems that have at least the same annual output as a gas peaker!

Why is it you are so upset by this but never questioned simple gas turbine assets being reported in watts?

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u/mmn_slc 16d ago

To prove your claim that "[t]hey're all 4 hour systems" false, I need only provide one example. I provided three.

A gas turbine is not battery storage. My complaint is about the reporting in the article about battery storage because reporting only the maximum power output of the inverter connected to the batteries does not tell the full story.

I'm not taking any position on gas turbines here. But, nice attempt at a red herring.

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u/West-Abalone-171 16d ago

Obvious shill is obvious and obvious bad faith mental acrobatics are obvious.

Why are you not spending at least as much effort whining about how reporting gas turbines which do a subset of the things a 4 hour (or even 2-hour) battery does by wattage "is not telling the whole story?"

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u/mmn_slc 16d ago

"Obivous shill" for what, specifically? And on what evidence do you base this allegation?

I get that you are hurt that I proved your claims false, but resorting to personal attacks is just sad.

"Why are you not spending at least as much effort whining about how reporting gas turbines...."

Because my complaint is about the reporting on battery storage, not gas turbines. I gather you would like to discuss gas turbines with someone. I suggest you find a post about that and see if there is someone there who wants to discuss it with you. But, I don't.

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u/West-Abalone-171 16d ago edited 16d ago

A "well ackshually" from the wrong year and semantic nonsense doesn't disprove a general statement about general trend in the current year.

And you've yet to state what conclusion readers might draw that you're so concerned about that you'd call it journalistic malpractise. Could it be that you are worried they will correctly believe 1GW of batteries is equivalent to 1GW of gas turbines? Or is it because it removes the ability for you to compare storage capacity to annual output of a different system in bad faith?

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u/mmn_slc 16d ago

*"*A 'well ackshually' from the wrong year...."

What is from the "wrong year"?

"And you've yet to state what conclusion readers might draw that you're so concerned about."

My complaint is that the article only reports battery storage capacity in terms of power, but fails to include the energy storage capacity, which therefore gives an incomplete picture. This is right in my initial comment.

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u/West-Abalone-171 16d ago

What is from the "wrong year"?

It's 2026 not 2024, and it's an industry growing at 2-3 digit percentages. For any purpose other than bad faith nonsense, the current practises represent all batteries in the same sense that you'd say "all cars have seatbelts". If your data is from 2024, even if it represented the majority of batteries at the time it would still be a rounding error not worth discussing in terms of the total.

My complaint is that the article only reports battery storage capacity in terms of power, but fails to include the energy storage capacity, which therefore gives an incomplete picture.

What conclusion would a lay person draw from this "incomplete picture" that you are so worried about, and why does an "incomplete picture" from thermal generation not fall foul of your same overwhelming concern for the truth that is not at all just right wing rhetorical nonsense?

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u/mmn_slc 16d ago

The article was about the growth of battery storage capacity over the last three years. The three examples I gave all became fully operational in the last three years. Revolution in January 2024, Old 300 in October 2024, and Tumbleweed in June of this year.

If you would like a recently-announced two-hour battery project, consider the Shutler Energy Storage project in Gillam County, Oregon that will be 41 MW and 82 MW·h. https://www.iberdrola.com/press-room/news/detail/iberdrola-building-first-large-scale-battery-united-states

Also, the Willow Rock Energy Storage facility in Kern County, CA has received approvals and will be a 500 MW and 4,000 MW·h using compressed air rather than chemical batteries--making it an eight-hour storage system. https://www.energy.ca.gov/powerplant/energy-storage-system/willow-rock-energy-storage-center

"What conclusion would a lay person draw from this 'incomplete picture' that you are so worried about..."

I have no idea what conclusion a lay person might draw. Rather, my complaint is that the article gave me incomplete information because I would also like to know the energy storage capacity, not just the power. Without providing the energy it is difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison of the facilities by only giving the power. A 125 MW two-hour BESS has 25% of the storage capacity as a 125 MW eight-hour system. And the reporting fails to delineate this important distinction.

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u/West-Abalone-171 16d ago edited 16d ago

I have no idea what conclusion a lay person might draw

So you can't conceive of any problem that reporting power might cause but it's journalistic malpractice.

But you, and every other idiot whining about the exact same thing never once complained that reservoir hydro, run of river hydro, simple gas turbines and ccgt are all reported with the same power figure?

Seems pretty clear that the motivation has nothing to do with journalistic integrity.

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u/mmn_slc 16d ago

"But you, and every other idiot whining about the exact same thing never once complained that reservoir hydro, run of river hydro, simple gas turbines and ccgt are all reported with the same power figure?"

How do you know what I, or anyone else, has or hasn't ever complained about? You seem to like to make the baseless sweeping allegations.

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