Residential battery storage is expected to ease supply constraints on utility grids and accelerate the integration of renewable energy.
As interest in renewable energy grows, and as energy emergencies brought on by events like the recent Texas cold snap and fires in California, the utility grid model is changing. With an eye toward sustainability and resilience, companies and consumers are increasingly looking to residential battery storage systems, which could have far-reaching effects on renewable energy adoption, grid resilience, and utility companies.
Residential battery storage systems, which connect to a home’s electrical system, store excess electrical power for use during power outages or electricity price spikes. This gives households greater energy control and reliability, and helps grid managers curb energy distribution bottlenecks, cut costs, and reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based peaker plants.
And the tech is gaining momentum. The global market for residential energy storage is estimated to reach nearly $6B in 2021, and then double in the next 5 years. Meanwhile new residential battery installations in the US are expected to rise 6x by 2025.
Residential battery systems can be paired with home rooftop solar photovoltaics (PVs), which convert sunlight into storable electrical energy and can protect homes from utility price spikes during demand peaks and outages, particularly in rural locations.
For multi-family complexes, communal solar-plus-battery storage systems have a significant impact on reducing reliance on utility grids: one study found a 60% reduction in grid electricity consumption. In 2020, less than 6% of US solar PVs were paired with battery storage — a figure that is projected to rise to 25% by 2025.
As adoption of these technologies by residential properties and utilities operators increases, the cost of solar-plus-battery storage will fall rapidly — leading to a more reliable and renewable energy grid.
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