US Adds a Record 20.2 GWh of Storage in Q2, While Home Battery Installs Fall 27%
The US installed a record 20.2 GWh of energy storage in the second quarter of 2026, but the residential part fell 27% from a year earlier, according to SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
The headline numbers
The figures come from the Q3 2026 Energy Storage Market Outlook, produced by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. ESS News reports 20.2 GWh installed in Q2, equal to 6.7 GW of power. Electrek says that is the largest quarter on record and that the first half of 2026 reached 30.8 GWh, up 23% on the same period a year earlier.
Most of it was utility-scale: about 18 GWh. Commercial and industrial storage added about 1.8 GWh. Arizona led the states with 6.2 GWh, ahead of Texas at 3.8 GWh and California at 3.6 GWh, according to Electrek. Benchmark expects around 71 GWh for the year, about 20% more than 2025.
Homes are going the other way
US households added 657 MWh in Q2, down 27% year on year. By our arithmetic that is only about 3% of the quarter's total. Benchmark forecasts residential installations to fall 16% across 2026, after a 56% rise in 2025.
The authors link the drop partly to the end of the federal Section 25D tax credit and partly to a rush to install before it ended in late 2025. In other words, a policy deadline pulled demand forward, and the market is now adjusting.
What it means outside the US
A US figure does not tell you what is happening in UK homes, where the rules, tariffs and incentives differ. But the pattern is worth noting: storage can grow fast at grid scale while household demand depends heavily on policy and prices. The UK has no equivalent of the US credit, and a home battery here has to stand on its own savings. If you are checking whether one makes sense for you, try our home battery calculator, and read how much a battery can save in the UK.
Figures above are from the secondary reports we could open. We could not open SEIA's own release, so check it for the final numbers.
Sources
- Electrek: The US added a record 20.2 GWh of battery storage in just 3 months
- ESS News: US adds record 20.2 GWh of energy storage in Q2
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