PRESS RELEASE: Urgent Need for Energy Storage in PJM to Prevent Power Outages and Stabilize Costs, Industry Report Finds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Sahar Robertson
press@energystorage.org

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WASHINGTON, D.C., October 9, 2025 — A new report released today from The Brattle Group, commissioned by the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition, finds that the largest regional transmission organization (RTO) in the U.S., PJM, will need to build at least 16 gigawatts (GW)–enough to power 12 million homes–of energy storage by 2032 and 23 GW by 2040 to prevent power outages during the summer and winter, help keep electricity prices stable, and improve the performance of all energy resources.

In July, PJM’s capacity auction set a record with a 22% increase in its MW-day price cap. The market is facing a significant increase in load growth over the next five years, with the report forecasting 19% peak load growth by 2030. Brattle’s findings underscore that market and regulatory reforms are necessary for PJM to build the necessary amount of new capacity, including energy storage, to ensure reliable and affordable electricity for its customers over the next decade. According to the report, adding energy storage can help save 30% in costs for PJM’s 65 million consumers across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

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“Across the U.S., energy storage resources have already proven to be a fast, cost-effective way to prevent power outages and keep electricity prices low,” said Noah Roberts, Executive Director of the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition. “For PJM to build the energy storage resources it needs, policy and regulatory reforms are necessary. This includes accelerating interconnection approvals, updating market design, and streamlining permitting.”  

Akarsh Sheilendranath, a principal at The Brattle Group and coauthor of the study notes that energy storage is a key asset for a cost-effective future. “Our study projects that large quantities of storage, gas, plus capacity contributions of significant solar and wind resource deployment will be needed to maintain resource adequacy and manage weather-related risk in PJM. Up to 16 GW of four-hour batteries by 2032 (and 23 GW by 2040) is the lowest-cost way to cover unprecedented load growth and tight supply options. This assumes that PJM will be able to integrate only about 17 GW of new gas resources by 2032 and delay almost all currently planned thermal retirements to the middle of the next decade.”

The Brattle report concludes that if the region can effectively deploy energy storage, it can:

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• Avoid a 30% increase in electricity costs.

• Prevent significant, recurring planned and emergency power outages due to energy shortfalls.

• Effectively prepare the power grid to serve existing homes and businesses and new data centers and factories by adding 30 GW of new energy storage and natural gas resources.  

 • Complement gas generation, maximizing its energy output by using energy storage to manage fluctuating supply and demand, enabling standby gas resources to serve as baseload power.

"AES is a leader in executing innovative energy solutions with our customers and partners, and energy storage is a key component of those solutions to support the rapid and scalable deployment of renewables at very competitive costs, alongside other resource types,” said Kleber Costa, Chief Commercial Officer, AES. “With the right market design, PJM can leverage energy storage to address this historic rise in electricity demand."

PJM is currently working to find ways to adequately serve large loads in the midst of looming supply constraints through a Critical Issue Fast Path (CFIP) process. In markets, separate from the study, where conditions have paved the way for robust investment in energy storage, developers have been able to deploy systems to improve grid stability and enable all resources to perform better. In Texas, developers have been investing heavily in energy storage for over a decade, anticipating the grid’s increasing need for rapid dispatchable resources to address growing volatility from more frequent weather impacts and increasing load growth. Integration of energy storage in Texas has helped maximize the output of natural gas resources, provided more than $1.4 billion in cost savings and dramatically improved resource adequacy.^[1]

"As PJM confronts unprecedented demand growth and needs new thermal dispatchable generation that isn’t available before 2030, battery energy storage is the obvious near-term solution to bridge the gap quickly and cost-effectively,” said Eric Stoutenburg, Chief Development Officer, Eolian. “Developers have spent more than a decade permitting energy storage projects and moving through the interconnection process to be prepared for exactly this opportunity at exactly the right time. PJM has the opportunity to facilitate energy storage deployment that will immediately unlock the full efficiency of existing transmission lines and allow the region to affordably capture the benefits both of new load and to better use existing essential baseload power resources.”

To realize the full benefits of storage, both PJM and state policymakers can streamline approval processes and advance policy solutions such as:

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‍• Accelerating interconnection approvals to eliminate unnecessary delays in connecting new energy storage resources to the grid.

• Reforming market rules to harness the full potential of energy storage, ensuring that it can provide the full range of services it is designed to deliver.

• Streamlining and clarifying permitting at the state and local level to ensure new energy infrastructure can be built quickly, safely, and responsibly.

To view the full report please visit HERE.

*The Brattle Report represents a baseline assessment of future energy storage needs in PJM and may not account for all potential impacts from evolving supply chain constraints or pricing dynamics — factors that, if included, could increase the projected value and urgency of these needs.

*Cost savings above reference net present wholesale market costs from 2028 through 2045 relative to a system without available storage.

^[1] Energy Storage Maximized Gas through Winter Blizzard, Producing $650 million in Savings; Energy Storage provided Critical Capacity in Summer of 2024, Reducing Conservation Appeals and Generating Savings of More than $750 million

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‍About the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition
The U.S. Energy Storage Coalition unites America’s leading grid battery manufacturers, energy storage developers, owners, and operators. The Coalition advances policies and solutions to ensure grid reliability amidst historic demand for power, lower energy costs for all Americans, strengthen grid capacity to support new industrial and AI infrastructure, and rapidly scale American manufacturing and minerals production.

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