Energy · Issue 01
Batteries now outbuild the gas turbine
The world added 108 GW of batteries in 2025 — more new capacity than gas plants managed in their best year. China installed most of it.
- China
- United States
- Rest of world
- Battery storage added in 2025
- 108 GW
- Versus 2024 additions
- +40%
- China’s share of the 2025 build
- 63 GW
- Installed stock versus 2021
- 11×
A comparison the industry will hate, and should sit with
The IEA’s 2026 storage commentary is the line: 108 GW of batteries added in 2025, up about 40% from 2024, and more than the historical peak of gas-fired power additions (about 107 GW, in 2002). Utility-scale was 87 GW of that. Installed battery capacity is now eleven times what it was in 2021. This is not ‘nascent’. It is a power technology growing faster than the thermal plant it is starting to complement.
China, then California, then everyone else
China added just over 63 GW — roughly 60% of the world — a third more than in 2024. The United States added 19 GW, up about 60%, of which more than 16 GW was utility-scale. Europe and the rest share what remains. The geography matches solar and EVs: the manufacturing and the deployment are the same country. That is a feature for system costs and a problem for everyone writing a ‘diversified supply chain’ press release.
What batteries cannot yet be
A lithium-ion four-hour battery is not a winter, and it is not a drought. Pair this chart with The power behind intelligence and The century-long reign of coal is ending. Data centres want 99.999% and they want it at 7pm in August. Batteries shave the ramps; gas, hydro, nuclear and interconnectors still hold the floor. The investing error is to treat 108 GW as the end of firm power. The investing error in the other direction is to ignore a technology that just outbuilt the gas turbine’s best year.
Investing lens
Horizon 5–12 years · Educational, not advice
Storage is the scarce complement to solar and to AI-shaped load. Own integrators and utilities with interconnection, not another cell maker in a glut, unless it is on the LFP cost curve with a captive offtake.
Where the map points
- Utility-scale storage developers with queued interconnection
- LFP cell and pack names tied to grid rather than only to cars
- Inverters, transformers and the same grid-equipment book as the electric century
What can break it
- Cell oversupply and a price war that looks like demand destruction
- Fire, insurance and siting politics
- A gas-price collapse that makes four-hour storage uneconomic on some grids
CHART does not recommend securities, funds or trades. Figures can be revised by their publishers. Do your own research and consider regulated advice before allocating capital.
Sources
Every headline number traces to a named publisher. Contextual sources inform the essay, not the key stat.
- 01PrimaryInternational Energy Agency2026Technology: Battery storage — Global Energy Review 2026
108 GW of new battery storage in 2025, +40%. Installed capacity eleven times 2021. China ~60% of additions.
- 02CorroboratedInternational Energy Agency2026-05-29Battery storage is scaling up and taking on a larger system role
Utility-scale 87 GW of 108 GW. China just over 63 GW; US 19 GW. Additions exceeded the 2002 peak for gas-fired capacity (~107 GW).
Keep reading
The century-long reign of coal is ending
In 2025, renewable electricity generated more power than coal for the first time in the modern era. Solar did most of the work.
33.8%
Renewables share of world electricity, 2025
The power behind intelligence
Data centres used 485 TWh in 2025. The IEA’s base case still nearly doubles that by 2030 — and AI sites are growing three times as fast as the rest.
485 TWh
Data-centre electricity, 2025
One in four new cars is now electric
The IEA counted 21 million electric cars in 2025. China already sells more EVs than ICE. America is the holdout.
25%
World new-car sales that were electric, 2025
The copper bind
Electrification, grids and data centres all drink copper. The IEA’s 2025 outlook still sees a 30% mined-supply gap by 2035.
30%
Implied copper supply shortfall by 2035