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RESEARCH

Global Battery Storage Crossed 100 GW in 2025 -- Trackers Still Split From 82 GW to 112 GW

Energy · 2026-08-04 14:13

Five major energy-market trackers all confirm 2025 was the first year global battery energy storage (BESS) additions topped 100 GW, but their tallies still range from 82 GW to 112 GW depending on when the estimate was made and what counts as stationary storage. BloombergNEF, the IEA, and Wood Mackenzie -- all reporting after the year closed -- cluster tightly between 106 and 112 GW, while S&P Global's January 2025 forecast of just 82 GW undershot the eventual outcome by roughly a third. The gap shows how quickly BESS deployment accelerated mid-year, outrunning even recent forecasts.

Findings

  • Four of five trackers -- BloombergNEF (112 GW), the IEA (108 GW), Wood Mackenzie (106 GW), and Rystad Energy (over 100 GW) -- confirm global BESS additions crossed the 100 GW threshold in 2025, a milestone BloombergNEF calls the start of the "100-gigawatt era."
  • S&P Global's January 2025 forecast of 82 GW/216 GWh undershot the eventual outcome by roughly 27-37%, showing how much deployment accelerated within the year itself.
  • China supplied roughly half of global additions across trackers that broke out geography: BloombergNEF and Wood Mackenzie both cite about 54%, and the IEA's absolute China figure of 63 GW implies a similar share of its 108 GW total.
  • Year-over-year growth for the four post-year-end actuals clusters in the 40-48% range (BNEF +48%, Wood Mackenzie +43%, IEA +40%), and cumulative installed BESS capacity already exceeds 250 GW per Rystad Energy, overtaking pumped hydro as the world's largest storage source for the first time.

Delta Engine result

↔ Divergence Detected — Δ 0.6207 (threshold 0.05)

Evidence quality

avg 37 · min 25 · max 55 · spread 30