Growth in battery storage capacity broke records again in 2025, with new markets growing fast.

Global battery storage deployment expanded strongly last year. Total capacity additions reached 108GW, up around 40 per cent from 2024. Annual growth of this scale exceeds the historical peak for gas‑fired power capacity additions, which was around 107GW in 2002.

Battery storage is playing a growing role in global power systems worldwide, acting as a ‘Swiss Army knife’ that can provide a range of critical system services at once.

According to the latest IEA data, the deployment of batteries expanded strongly in 2025 and broadened across markets with rapid growth in countries such as Australia and Saudi Arabia, where storage is increasingly being used to support the integration of rising shares of variable renewables.

The UK has seen a surge of installations, but the pattern is being repeated across the globe, with regions that have been at the forefront of renewable integration and battery deployment playing an essential role in continuously balancing electricity demand and supply.

Utility‑scale battery storage accounted for around 87GW of global battery capacity additions in 2025, around four-fifths of the total. Behind-the-meter battery storage deployment also accelerated, particularly in markets with high retail electricity prices and supportive regulatory and policy frameworks. Around 24GW of utility-scale battery storage additions in 2025 were co-located directly with renewables, on par with the previous year.

Battery storage now accounts for around 18 per cent of installed dispatchable capacity in the fast-growing market of Australia, compared with 7 per cent in China, 5 per cent in the US and 4 per cent in Europe (which has generally pushed battery deployment into EVs).

Falling costs (which declined by more than 90 per cent between 2010 and 2025), energy security concerns and comparatively short construction and development timelines are further supporting the rapid deployment of utility-scale batteries in particular: in many markets, projects typically take around two years to develop and commission, giving them an important advantage in systems that seek flexible capacity quickly.

In absolute terms, deployment continued to be led by China, the US and Europe. China added just over 63GW of battery capacity in 2025, around one-third more than in 2024. Utility-scale installations accounted for around 55GW of this total, while behind-the-meter additions reached about 8GW, continuing to steadily expand alongside distributed solar. The US added 19GW of battery capacity in 2025. In Europe, total battery additions were slightly lower than in 2024 at around 6.2GW, but with a clear structural shift towards utility-scale systems, where additions more than doubled to about 4.6 GW.

In Great Britain, where wind is the primary driver of changes in net load, batteries are expanding their role within an increasingly diversified power mix, complementing gas‑fired generation, hydropower and increased electricity trade. They are also playing a growing role in the region’s balancing mechanism, where speed is particularly valuable for meeting short‑term ramping needs.

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