Introduction: All the growth is in renewables
Renewable energy is growing at a terrific pace to meet ambitious carbon-free generation goals, and the success of wind and solar electricity projects worldwide depends increasingly on the ability of operators to store that energy and deliver it at times when renewable generation is not occurring. This is because intermittent production projects like wind and solar need to deliver power ever more consistently as coal and natural gas plants continue losing market share to renewable generation. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) have thus become a crucial component for the long-term viability of renewable projects.
The good news is that BESS prices are falling dramatically. The cost of four-hour storage projects fell by 27% in 2025, reaching record lows and making renewable/storage contracts more competitive than fossil fuel alternatives (this significant decline due primarily to the sharp drop in lithium-ion battery cell prices and a global manufacturer oversupply). Worth noting, as well, is the fact that the administration in last year’s budget omnibus bill, while gutting credits for wind and solar, left battery storage largely untouched.
The BESS landscape in 2026 will be characterized by a transition from “rapid growth” to “structural necessity.” As renewables provide an increasing share of global electricity—projected at 43-46% by 2030—storage is no longer an optional add-on but a foundational pillar of the world’s energy infrastructure.
BESS growth continues to accelerate
2025 was a record-breaking year for BESS, and 2026 is expected to surpass it, particularly in the U.S. and China. Indeed, 2025 saw a significant milestone, surpassing for the first time 100 GW of annual installations.
- China: Leads the world in BESS installations and is expected to add 60-70 GW in 2026
- US: Forecast to add 35-70 GW of utility-scale BESS in 2026, more than doubling the 15 GW of utility-scale generation added in 2025.
- Regional Dominance: Texas is the epicenter of U.S. growth, accounting for 53% (12.9 GW) of planned 2026 U.S. capacity, followed by California (14%) and Arizona (13%).
- Global Totals: Global BESS installations reached 106 GW in 2025. Multi-GW-hour assets are becoming the new industry standard.
Important technical note: The energy capacity (GWh) rating of new installations are growing faster than the power ratings (GW) because the industry is moving toward longer duration battery technology (average duration for new utility-scale installations is currently 3.1 hours). As the grid relies increasingly on wind and solar, it requires batteries that can shift energy not just for minutes, but for 4 – 8 hours, ideally to cover the entire non-solar period.
The challenges of operating a rapidly increasing fleet of BESS assets
Some of the challenges that come with operating large-scale BESS assets as part of a renewable energy project include:
- Identifying degraded conditions and impending failures before they occur, e.g., voltage mismatches, thermal runaways, etc.
- Managing capacity and efficiency degradation
- Maintaining proper cooling systems
- Complying with warranty contract obligations
- Ensuring safety systems are available when needed
- Providing performance reports and other dashboard functions
Operators of renewable energy projects have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help them improve their maintenance schedules, detect impending failures of crucial parts, and determine the best practices to maximize production. Avathon’s Autonomy for Renewables has enabled significant savings and revenue growth for solar and wind assets and provides similar benefits for BESS projects.
Problems such as rack mismatch, thermal runaway risk, tripping offline, over- or under-charge, cell unbalancing, and voltage mismatches can be identified and remedied with Autonomy for Renewables to limit maintenance costs. And with AI helping to identify the most optimal charge/discharge cycles, BESS projects can bring in the most revenue possible to help renewable energy projects stay competitive as prices for power purchase agreements (PPA) can fluctuate wildly from year to year.
Avathon Autonomy drives optimal BESS performance
Avathon Autonomy turns the traditional renewable operating plan into a living, AI-driven system, delivering significant cost savings, greater efficiency, and improved asset performance. Using computational knowledge graph (CKG) technology to map assets, resources, schedules, and dependencies, the platform enables AI agents to anticipate maintenance needs, optimize parts and workforce deployment, and coordinate supply chain actions in real time. By connecting all these components into a unified, adaptive plan, BESS operators significantly reduce operating costs, minimize downtime, and maximize the revenue potential of capital-intensive assets.
- Asset optimization
- Maximizes the revenue potential of renewable assets by predicting underperformance, optimizing market bids, and recommending interventions.
- Anomaly detection and predictive analytics
- Machine Learning (ML) models and machine vision analyze data from renewable generation and storage assets to forecast energy output, detect performance anomalies, and anticipate component failures.
- Prescriptive maintenance
- Recommends precise corrective actions, accounting for required parts, work orders, procedures, crew availability, and optimal downtime windows.
- Dynamic work scheduling
- Generates and optimizes work orders, matching tasks with the right technicians, tools, and parts while optimizing routes and timing.
- Safety and security
- Continuously monitors camera feeds, drones, and sensor data to detect potential hazards and security threats.
- Compliance
- Automates data extraction, reporting, and workflow management, ensuring timely, accurate, and audit-ready compliance while reducing administrative burden and operational risk.
Conclusion: Renewables are the way the wind is blowing (and the sun shining)
On a typical day, electricity grids across the US use only about half of the energy available to them. This underutilization is by design as the grid needs a significant amount of extra capacity for times of peak demand. Installing batteries at all levels of the grid is, therefore, an excellent way of taking advantage of extra energy that goes unused during off-peak days, saving what would otherwise go to waste.
AI enhances visibility across the entire lifecycle of renewable assets—both generation and storage—increasing performance while preventing unexpected component failures. Instead of using myriad programs to handle the increasing volume of data generated by renewable assets, Autonomy empowers companies with a single AI-powered solution that’s purpose-built to manage an integrated fleet of energy storage products. Avathon’s Autonomy Platform helps to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, and increase profitability for BESS operators, enabling them to stay as competitive as possible in a fast-changing marketplace.
To learn more about Avathon’s AI-enabled BESS performance optimization solutions, check out our website.
