Batteries Making Grid More Resilient

Utility Dive:

• There were 30 weather-related events in the United States and Canada that caused more than $1 billion in damages last year, but “none resulted in operator-initiated load shed, unlike previous events of a similar scale,” the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said Thursday in its annual State of Reliability report.
• On whole, the bulk power system “remained reliable but challenged by adverse weather conditions and transitions in resource mix and usage,” according to the report. “Today’s transmission system is demonstrably more reliable and resilient with the severity and duration of outages declining,” the reliability watchdog said.
• The North American grid is challenged by the proliferation of large loads, such as data centers, and the operating profile of inverter-based resources, NERC said. But “reliability improvements were observed in areas with high concentrations of battery energy storage systems,” also known as BESS.

NERC’s report also highlights the potential for batteries to make the grid more reliable. Utility-scale battery storage in the United States is poised to more than double over the next two years and will close out 2026 at nearly 65 GW, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its Short Term Energy Outlook published Tuesday.

“Improvements in frequency response are being observed in areas of the country that have high concentrations of battery energy storage systems and incentives in place to encourage or require participation,” NERC said. 

In Texas, NERC said battery capacity increased to more than 10 GW in December, and an additional 19 GW is planned by the end of 2025.

“While all industrial battery installations can provide frequency support, in Texas RE, the provision of frequency support (when available) is mandated through a Reliability Standard,” NERC noted. “This requirement combined with the increasing amount of installed capacity, quick response times, and BESS often being in a state of partial charge has positioned these installations as a key part of the Texas Interconnection’s frequency response.”

The Texas grid operated through multiple instances last year where batteries provided up to 100% of the total capacity for frequency regulation services, the reliability organization said.

“These events provide supporting evidence that at current penetration levels, with proper requirements and incentives, BESS can improve primary frequency response, an essential reliability service,” said Jack Norris, NERC’s performance analysis manager.

“While challenges and concerns remain with the rapidly increasing penetration of these resources, their flexible capabilities are currently beneficial to reliability, bolstering their viability as a form of BPS energy storage,” he said.

Mark Z Jacobson PhD of Stanford on Facebook:

Battery and WindWaterSolar output records CRUSHED on Mon June 16, 2025 on California’s main grid.

10.401 GW battery output 7:55 PM

434 GWh of WWS produced

Battery output up 215% v ’23 & 66% v ’24

Solar output up 50% v ’23 & 18.2% v ’24

Fossil gas output down 41.4% v ’23 & 17.4% v ’24

133 of 167 (80%) days and 15 straight in 2025 with >100% WWS on the grid, for an average of 4.93 hours per day.

56.6% of all demand in 2025 has been met by WWS.