The global energy storage market will see a decade of sustained, rapid growth and reach 3.1TW cumulative capacity by 2036, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF).

Industry executives from owner-operators BW ESS, Eku Energy, Gore Street, Field and NEOM answered questions from the audience on Day One of last month’s Energy Storage Summit EU 2025.

The UK now has nearly 9GWh of grid-scale BESS online, with more than double that figure under construction.

BESS deployment data for 2024 and forecasts for 2025 have been released by BloombergNEF and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) respectively.

A total of 5.2GW/13.8GWh of grid-scale BESS capacity came online in January 2025, of which over two thirds was in China.

China has reached well over 70GW of installed BESS capacity, while DC block prices appear to be ‘stable’, a local metals price agency said.

The UK saw a slowdown in both BESS installations and submitted applications in 2024, while applications in Ireland grew by capacity, writes PV Tech Research analyst Charlotte Gisbourne.

A total 3.8GW/9.9GWh of energy storage was deployed in the US in the third quarter of 2024, according to Wood Mackenzie’s US Energy Storage Monitor.

The energy storage market in Ireland continues to show strong growth potential. While still in the early stages of site construction, new additions are now providing a strong uptick in activity. 

There is a four-fold difference between how much energy storage the US Department of Energy (DOE) forecasted would be deployed by 2040 before the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and how much it now forecasts.