By Keira Wright, Mark Chediak, and Petra Sorge, Bloomberg Green Daily
Around the world, a wave of large battery installations is lining up to be connected to the grid this year — from solar hubs in Texas to grasslands in Inner Mongolia and the site of a former coal plant north of Sydney.
Falling costs and soaring energy demand from data centers had already set the stage for rapid growth. The war in the Middle East has accelerated the trend by boosting demand for alternatives to expensive fossil fuels, setting 2026 up to be the year batteries become influential in the global energy system. BloombergNEF analysts had already expected installations to jump by about a third this year, led by expansion in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. That momentum could build further if fuel disruptions persist.
Signs of the ramp-up are already emerging. A Chinese battery manufacturer has forecast a sharp rise in first-quarter profit as global demand picks up. In Vietnam, a developer is seeking approval to replace a planned LNG-to-power project with a renewables-and-storage project, citing the surge in fuel costs linked to the war.
“We’ve now crossed into a point where anytime anyone is looking at investing in the power system, batteries are one of the most attractive options,” said Brent Wanner, head of the power sector unit at the International Energy Agency. “Battery storage systems will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.”
