Year in Review: EPC Burns & McDonnell on energy storage innovation, workforce and Trump

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The energy storage team at EPC firm Burns & McDonnell offers its take on the year just gone and looks ahead to 2025.

Burns & McDonnell is a full-service engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor that delivers projects for customers in various industries, from aviation to mining, telecoms, oil and gas, and more.

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Its energy storage team has worked on some of the biggest grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the US in states including California, Arizona and Texas.

That positions the company well to offer its takes on some of the biggest issues impacting the US industry across 2024 and into 2025, like workforce and staffing, technology trends and adoption, market development and, of course, the likely impact of the change of presidential administration.

Taking part in this edition of our Year in Review Q&A series from Burns & McDonnell are: Ben Kuisle, director of energy storage for EPC projects, technology manager Joshua Crawford, energy storage director Matt Domeier, renewable EPC sales and commercial strategy lead Adam Bernardi, Chris Ruckman, VP for energy storage and decarbonisation, construction operations manager Josh Hauser, regulations and compliance lead Ben Echeverria and energy storage section manager Julian Hoover.

If you’re curious to see how things might have changed—or indeed stayed constant—since last year, take a look at our Year in Review piece from this time last year when Ruckman and Bernardi took part.

Stay tuned for more entries in this unmissable series.

What did 2024 mean for the energy storage industry from your company’s perspective and the bigger picture?

Ben Kuisle, director of energy storage for EPC projects at Burns & McDonnell: It was another big year for the energy storage industry, with no signs of slowing down. The market demonstrated its resilience by effectively managing inflationary pressures and maintaining momentum. The timing of agreements proved critical, helping projects move forward despite economic uncertainties.

The year also saw some increase in hybrid opportunities as more project owners sought to integrate battery storage with solar assets. We would expect solar-plus-storage growth to continue in 2025. This trend reflects the growing recognition of storage as a vital component in maximising renewable energy investments and enhancing grid reliability.

Joshua Crawford, technology manager for energy storage: From a cost perspective, the industry experienced deflationary trends across the generation landscape. While inflation affected certain components like balance-of-plant (BOP) equipment, the continued decline in battery costs played a crucial role in offsetting these increases. This created a favourable environment for project development, making it easier for owners to justify adding storage solutions to their renewable portfolios.

We saw conversations around battery augmentation start to pick up as the first movers in the industry are starting to put plans around how to augment degraded batteries.

Matt Domeier, director of energy storage: For Burns & McDonnell, 2024 was another strong year. An important milestone for us was the successful execution of a 1,000MWh energy storage facility in Arizona for Plus Power and utility Salt River Project (SRP). 2025 will be another big year for our construction crews, with numerous projects in various stages of construction and preparation for mobilisation, including a few of the battery storage projects in Georgia Power’s 500MW programme.

“The first 100 days of the new [presidential] administration will really set the tone for the storage industry for 2025.”

Adam Bernardi

What do you think 2025 will hold, firstly in terms of things to look forward to, but also in terms of challenges ahead?

Adam Bernardi, renewable EPC sales and commercial strategy leader: The first 100 days of the new [presidential] administration will really set the tone for the storage industry for 2025. While I don’t have a crystal ball, a few things I think will be interesting to keep an eye on are:

I think everyone believes that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will be a part of a budget reconciliation process in Washington, but the big question will be what portions are modified as a result of reconciliation.

As it relates to clean energy projects, most are looking at the level of the investment tax credit (ITC) and if the base credit changes and, more importantly, will domestic content be required to get a 30% credit?

The other big story to watch will be Elon Musk’s role in the White House and what influence and potential impact he has on BESS projects moving forward.

With EV adoption potentially slowing, battery manufacturers may convert manufacturing lines once allocated to EV batteries over energy storage. This shift could significantly bolster supply availability and reduce costs for ESS projects.

Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor signals a positive outlook for workforce development. Investments in training programmes and streamlined regulations could alleviate labour shortages, providing a skilled workforce to meet growing industry demands. With a pro-business administration in place, the anticipated permitting reforms will streamline project approvals, reducing delays and fostering accelerated deployment of BESS solutions.

Chris Ruckman, vice president, energy storage and decarbonisation: I think the market is finally at a place where it has matured enough that we start seeing more regulated utilities add storage to their portfolio.

At the same time, I think we start seeing more behind-the-meter applications with data companies. You can’t read an article or have a conversation about electricity without the topic of data centre growth and the significant demand that it could have on the power system. I think there is definitely a collaboration opportunity between power and data centre developers to better align on realistic expectations.

Josh Hauser, construction operations manager, battery energy storage group: In 2025, we can look forward to Suppliers continuing to advance the lithium-based battery technology for utility-scale energy storage. Manufacturers are optimising every component—battery modules, inverters, thermal systems, and controls—so that systems can be shipped as fully integrated, ready-to-install units rather than individual pieces. This evolution is revolutionising how large-scale energy storage facilities are designed and built.

However, these advancements also bring challenges to the construction side. Modularisation of these containers continues to evolve, resulting in changes in installation and commissioning requirements, meaning the requirements for serial number two could be vastly different than what you did for serial number one.

That, along with increasing schedule demands by clients and end consumers, allows for less time to address any issues that arise from a procurement process and thus could cause a spike in labour.

Clients are also trying to put these battery storage sites into smaller, more constrained areas of land, such as retired coal plants. This creates the need for meticulous site planning and early engagement in pre-construction tasks. Collaboration between design and construction teams will be critical to ensure seamless installation and maximise the efficiency of these cutting-edge solutions.

The last year has seen incredible growth in energy storage deployments in key markets worldwide, but what are some things that people may not be aware of when considering the development of mature and emerging markets?

Ben Echeverria, energy storage regulations and compliance: Even in mature markets, regulatory frameworks are often fragmented, requiring careful navigation of local, state, and federal requirements. Policies may not yet fully align with the rapid adoption of BESS technologies.

Image: Burns & McDonnell

Regarding safety and keeping up to date with code standards, 2024 was a busy year. We saw the development of the next edition of NFPA 855. The 2026 edition has taken lessons learned and industry experience to further streamline and emphasise the importance of safety and best practices for installations.

New language will motivate UL9540 to focus on failure testing at a larger scale than previously performed, it will provide new guidance for authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) on compliance, and new prescriptive language for OEMs on reliability and performance.

The key takeaway this year is that the market is maturing in all ways possible; this has led to overall better front-end project development, safety, battery performance, and transparency. There has been a more cohesive effort by all stakeholders to strive towards safer and overall has created more successful projects.

As this maturity continues to evolve, we will see more overall installations which moves the entire industry forward.

Are there any major market trends that our readers should watch, perhaps related to technology, financing, or other aspects of the industry?

Adam Bernardi, renewable EPC sales and commercial strategy leader: The petition filed in December regarding the imports of Active Anode Material from China (Premium access) is something we will all be paying close attention to.

In the best-case scenario, the Department of Commerce does not take up the petition, leaving the market unaffected, as we saw with the aluminium petition earlier in 2024. 

However, the worst-case scenario could mirror the solar industry’s experience with AD/CVD petitions, leading to significant market slowdowns as the industry awaits resolution.

“Everyone, union and non-union, should continue their apprenticeships programmes and have accountability for training the next generation of craft labour.”

Julian Hoover

What should the industry’s priorities be in 2025 and beyond?

Joshua Crawford, technology manager for energy storage group: There are always ways to make projects safer, whether through engineering, construction, or the technology itself.

We’re always looking to add features to the design, such as improved electrical protection systems, detection or controls, or even changes to the physical layout where we’re improving the safety of that project, improving the ability of the owner to understand what’s going on with their project and control it and operate it, always keeping the safety of the community as our first-hand responsibility.

Julian Hoover, energy storage section manager at Burns & McDonnell: Innovation in construction will continue to be a priority for us. When I first started working in energy storage, we were loading modules one at a time. The big concern was on the weight and size of the modules. Repeatedly loading 250-pound modules is difficult to do safely and efficiently, so we engineered and fabricated a tool to eliminate that strenuous task.

Drone image of Cranberry Point BESS in Massachusetts, another Plus Power contracted Burns & McDonnell to work on. Image: Plus Power

Fast-forward to today. The industry has evolved, and we are no longer loading modules one at a time but rather setting pre-loaded battery containers. Our focus has shifted as the industry has evolved. So, now we’re customising construction equipment and leveraging technology to help us do this safer and more efficiently.

Then, there’s a big gap between people retiring out of the trades, and less experienced people coming in. As an EPC, we must adapt our training and safety programmes to address the needs of a less experienced workforce, to provide clarity in expectations and focus on coaching for safety, quality, and project execution.

What was inherent with yesterday’s workforce may not be inherent to the new workforce. Everyone, union and non-union, should continue their apprenticeships programmes and have accountability for training the next generation of craft labour.

26 March 2025
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