Global BESS Installations Surge 29% YoY As Energy Storage Momentum Accelerates In 2025 – Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

Global battery energy storage system (BESS) installations continue to expand at a rapid pace, reflecting the accelerating global shift toward clean energy and the urgent need for flexibility and grid stability. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a leading research organisation specialising in the battery supply chain, the world saw 12.7GWh of new operational grid-scale BESS capacity come online in October 2025. This represents a 29% year-on-year increase compared to the same period in 2024, highlighting continued confidence and investment in energy storage deployment despite market volatility and regional challenges.

China dominated global installations in October, adding nearly 8.8GWh of utility-scale BESS capacity. This marks an impressive month-on-month growth rate of 72%. The month also featured the commissioning of a giga-scale vanadium flow battery, demonstrating China’s continued leadership in both lithium-ion and alternative long-duration storage technologies. The United States ranked second in new capacity additions, with 2.3GWh entering operations. While this reflects a 40% decline compared to September, it is still up 13% compared to October 2024, indicating stable year-on-year momentum. Australia also reported significant progress with 980MWh entering commercial operations through the second phase of the Waratah Super Battery project in New South Wales. However, transformer failures reduced the active operating power to 350MW, and full operation is expected only by 2026. Europe contributed just under 500MWh of new capacity, including a notable 260MWh project in Bulgaria where Hithium served as system integrator.

Globally, BESS deployments for Year-to-Date 2025 have reached 156GWh, a 38% increase compared to the same period last year. Regional YTD performance highlights include China at +27%, Europe +21%, North America +21%, and the Rest of the World seeing a remarkable 242% rise.

Pipeline growth remained robust in October, with nearly 75GWh in new proposed or announced projects—up 5% month-on-month. Total global pipeline additions for YTD 2025 now stand at 732GWh, a 23% year-on-year increase. The largest single project added was the Yan’an Wenergy Electricity Shaanbei–Anhui HVDC project, with 4.2GWh of planned capacity. Australia continues to cement its role as one of the most competitive BESS markets, with twelve of the sixteen giga-scale projects announced in October based in the country. More than 16GWh of planned projects secured technology partners during the month, and 32GWh moved into construction. Four projects of over 1GWh began construction in September, including Masdar’s massive 19GWh facility in Abu Dhabi. The Middle East remains one of the fastest-growing regions for BESS installations, also showing rapid construction timelines similar to those seen in China.

Despite strong growth, October also saw over 30GWh of cancellations, including more than 5GW from the Esmerelda 7 Solar project in Nevada. Most cancellations occurred in China due to recent regional policy adjustments. For the rest of 2025, over 153GWh of capacity is scheduled to come online, though delays and cancellations are expected to reduce final numbers.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence continues to play a key role in supporting global energy transition strategies. Its expertise ranges from raw material analysis to battery markets, EVs, charging, and energy storage technologies. The company’s raw material price assessments meet IOSCO Type 2 standards and are essential for contract settlement, indexation, and risk management. Benchmark has advised major government bodies, including the US Senate and UK House of Commons, and received The King’s Award for Enterprise in 2024. The organisation strengthened its downstream analytics capabilities in 2024 through the acquisition of Rho Motion, forming the world’s largest specialist energy transition analyst team, with support from Spectrum Equity as a minority investor.