Part 1 of 3 in this series by Melissa Floyd.
Setting the Scene: The Great Texas Freeze
In February 2021, the state of Texas suffered a major power crisis, as a result of three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States from February 10 – 20. The storm brought snow, sleet, freezing rain and 13-degree temperatures. The combination of icy conditions and extremely cold temperatures caused ERCOT to be unable to meet the increased power demands, issuing rolling blackouts across the state. This was supposed to allow power, once turned off, to quickly kick back on, but residents were left without power for five more days. Homes went dark and assembly lines stopped.
A Resilient Hospital
Now imagine, for example, a regional hospital in San Antonio was equipped with a solar and Battery Energy Storage System microgrid that would allow the hospital to stay fully powered. Ventilators keep running, lights stay on, and families have a safe place to go for treatment.
While the resilient hospital is hypothetical, the winter storm was not and serves as a wake-up call. Wildfires, hurricanes and the recent blackout of the entire Iberian Peninsula in Europe expose the grid’s soft spots, and batteries are the fix.
In this series of blogs, we will unpack scaling energy, bust some myths, talk about the central role batteries play in microgrids and how we can win the race for grid resilience.
Scaling Energy in the U.S.
As we navigate this time of political change, let’s dive into why this is the time for our domestic battery industry to come together to solve the energy resiliency issue in the U.S. and how using our competitive advantages will help us solve the country’s energy resilience challenges. But first, let’s clear the air on some myths that are holding us back from progress.
Myth #1: Centralized grids are untouchable.
FALSE. Our society is increasingly electrifying. As our dependence on electricity grows, we need to focus on how we can mitigate the effects of extreme events and increased demand on the power grid.
Like the California wildfires, Hurricane Helene and the Texas winter storm referenced earlier, natural disasters are more impactful due to increased population, infrastructure growth and the addition of renewables to the grid.
However, incorporating more microgrids with battery energy storage can help us plan for the unplanned to ensure people always have power when they need it. A decentralized approach offers resilience in these grid challenges, particularly in states that are susceptible to natural disasters.
The strain on our grid will only increase in the future. On the demand side, electricity consumption to power our manufacturing renaissance continues to rise as we re-shore our industrial base and enable new technologies. U.S. electricity demand is driven by data center expansion and the rise of AI, domestic manufacturing growth and electrification. Data centers’ voracious appetite for electricity alone could spike to as high as 12% of energy demand in 2028.
Additionally, in Cox Automotive’s 2025 outlook report, it is predicted that 1 in every 4 cars sold in the U.S. will be EVs or hybrids. Growth in EVs will correspond with growth in power demand.
To answer this increased energy consumption, the DOE is actively working to enable the commercialization of key technologies such as long-duration energy storage to achieve energy security goals which will result in decentralizing the grid and provide the resiliency that can scale up to meet this increased power consumption and keep the power on during times of peak demand and extreme weather events. When the grid is down or overloaded – batteries come to the rescue.
Myth #2: Batteries are just the side-kick.
FALSE. Batteries have not been part of the equation for the vast majority of renewable projects, which is a mistake. We can’t relegate batteries to side-kick status because of the massive amount of curtailment from solar projects. California alone curtails enough renewable energy to power more than half a million homes for a year – 3 million megawatts – every year and the curtailment problem will compound despite more energy storage being added to level out their duck curve.
The Essential Role of Batteries in Renewable Energy
To illustrate the vast chasm, we have created between renewable energy and storage. Take a look at the chart below to see the growing disparity between energy storage and solar installations.
Today, there is a significant gap between solar energy production and batteries to store that power. Despite increased energy storage deployments, the gap between solar and batteries continues to grow each year.
Below is another chart that forecasts grid capacity even further to the year 2050 from several different sources. It depends on who is doing the calculations as to how large the gap is between solar capacity and energy storage. Batteries can and must be at the center of our strategy to stabilize our grid. It is a challenge that needs to be overcome, and the domestic battery industry will do it.
It is important for us to recognize the essential role of batteries in achieving grid stability. This has finally penetrated the strategy of adjacent industry groups. In fact, the Solar Energy Industries Association has based its policy platform on enabling the U.S. to reach 700 GWh of energy storage by 2030. They have said, “The U.S. storage market is at an inflection point, but with the mix of policy support and private, state and federal collaboration, we can achieve SEIA’s storage targets while creating jobs and ensuring reliable, around the clock power for every home and business in this country.”
As we move forward, it’s clear that batteries will play a pivotal role in achieving our energy goals. The SEIA’s ambitious targets highlight the urgency and potential of energy storage. In our next blog, we’ll dive into the innovative battery-first model developed by Stryten Energy’s CEO and President, Mike Judd, and explore how this approach can revolutionize energy resilience and microgrid design.
Melissa Floyd
Chief Corporate Marketing & Communications Officer
