Battery Storage Is Growing Faster Than National Targets

Published October 20, 2026

Battery storage has moved from a niche grid technology to one of the fastest-growing parts of the power sector. According to analysis published by Ember in October 2026, global energy storage additions reached a record 118 GW in 2025, of which 108 GW were batteries. That brought cumulative installed storage capacity worldwide to roughly 430 GW. Governments have raised their ambitions in response: the sum of national 2030 storage targets now stands at 822 GW, close to three times the level assessed in 2024. Even so, those targets sit well below the 1,500 GW international goal for 2030, and the market is already installing storage faster than most policies require. For organizations that manage commercial buildings, factories and data centers, this is more than a national planning story. Cheaper batteries, more solar on the grid and changing price signals are reshaping when electricity is expensive, and what facilities can do about it.

National Storage Targets Have Risen but Remain Concentrated

Ember recently expanded its 2030 Global Renewable Target Tracker to include storage. The tracker covers 98 countries and the EU, representing 97% of global renewable capacity, and 33 of them now have a 2030 storage capacity target. Since late 2024, eight countries and the EU have either raised an existing target or announced a new one.

The largest targets in the tracker include:

China: 460 GW under its 15th Five-Year Plan for the energy system, made up of 300 GW of new-type storage (mostly lithium-ion batteries) and 160 GW of pumped hydro, up from a previous 130 GW.
European Union: a first bloc-wide target of 200 GW, set through a Tripartite Agreement on Energy Storage in June 2026.
Australia: 33 GW projected by 2030 in the grid operator’s 2026 Integrated System Plan, a planning projection rather than a binding target.
India: 31.8 GW of batteries and 19 GW of pumped storage, derived from its National Electricity Plan.
United Kingdom: 23 to 27 GW of batteries, plus 4 to 6 GW of long-duration storage.

China and the EU together account for more than 80% of all national storage targets in the tracker. Ember notes that the overall increase is driven largely by these two markets rather than by a broad change in how governments plan for storage. Several large markets, including India, Spain and Italy, have not changed their targets in that period.

Deployment Is Moving Faster Than Policy

While targets have grown, installations have grown faster. Annual battery additions increased seventeenfold over the past five years, and 2025 additions were about 40% higher than in 2024. Global battery additions rose from about 10 GW to over 100 GW in four years, a scale-up that took solar nine years and wind fifteen. The IEA reports that behind-the-meter installations also accelerated in 2025, particularly in markets with high retail electricity prices, and that battery costs fell by more than 90% between 2010 and 2025.

The gap between deployment and policy shows up clearly in the numbers. Reaching the 822 GW sum of national targets would require about 78 GW of new storage per year from 2026 to 2030, well below what was installed in each of the past two years. Reaching the 1,500 GW goal would require about 214 GW per year, nearly double the 2025 record. Ember points out that because battery additions have grown by almost 80% a year since 2020, meeting the battery share of that goal requires growth at only a fraction of recent rates.

Solar is a major reason for this momentum. Batteries store surplus midday solar output and release it in the evening, when demand stays high. In 2025, roughly 1 MW of batteries was added for every 6 MW of new solar. Yet only 12 of the 20 largest solar markets have a 2030 storage target, and outcomes vary widely. Germany has about 30 GWh of batteries installed and Saudi Arabia recently connected a 7.8 GWh project without national targets, while Poland’s 1.5 GW of storage is about 85% legacy pumped hydro. Some governments are using other tools: Italy procures storage through central auctions, and Viet Nam now requires utility-scale solar projects to include at least 10% battery capacity.

What the Storage Boom Means for Facility Owners

For commercial and industrial energy users, the growth of grid-scale batteries and falling equipment costs change both the grid they buy from and the options available on site. As more solar and storage connect to the grid, the timing of high-cost hours can shift, and tariffs that charge for peak demand or time of use become more important to understand. At the same time, smaller on-site battery systems are becoming a realistic option for more facilities, not only the largest ones.

Whether storage makes financial sense depends heavily on the individual site. Useful starting points include:

Reviewing interval meter data to identify when peaks occur and how much of the bill comes from demand charges.
Checking whether on-site solar generation is being exported or underused at midday when it could be shifted to later hours.
Modeling battery size and expected savings against the facility’s actual tariff before procurement.
Comparing storage with lower-cost measures such as load shifting, controls upgrades or efficiency improvements.
Prioritizing sites across a portfolio based on where the business case is strongest.

As with building retrofits, the same technology can deliver very different returns at two sites with different load profiles, rates and operating schedules. Data-driven analysis before investment helps avoid oversizing systems or buying storage where simpler measures would deliver more value.

Conclusion

Ember’s analysis shows a market that is ahead of policy. National 2030 storage targets have risen to 822 GW, but most of that increase comes from China and the EU, and many major solar markets still have no target at all. Meanwhile, record installations of 118 GW in 2025 and steadily falling battery costs suggest that the 1,500 GW goal is within reach if growth continues, even at a slower pace than in recent years. Ember argues that clearer targets would give investors more certainty about where and when storage is needed. For facility owners and energy managers, the practical takeaway is that storage is becoming a mainstream option. The organizations best placed to benefit will be those that understand their own energy data and evaluate storage alongside other measures on a site-by-site basis.