Grid batteries outpace gas plants in new US capacity

Utility-scale battery storage added more capacity to the US grid than natural gas plants for the first full quarter on record, according to federal data released this week.

Developers connected 7.1 gigawatts of storage against 4.3 gigawatts of gas in the three months to June. The interconnection queue suggests the gap will widen: storage projects awaiting connection now outnumber gas projects five to one by capacity.

Grid operators credit batteries with flattening evening price spikes in Texas and the Southwest, though they caution that four-hour systems cannot yet substitute for multi-day firm capacity in winter peaks.