US home battery installations hit record high on rising electricity costs
US home battery installations hit record high on rising electricity costs
受电费上涨驱动，美国家用电池安装量创历史新高
US homeowners have embraced home batteries in record-breaking numbers in early 2026, spurred on by state incentives while seeking to offset rising residential electricity costs. The trend could even unlock a more flexible energy supply for power grid operators and even AI data centers. 2026年初，受各州激励政策推动，美国家庭安装家用电池的数量创下历史新高，业主们正试图以此抵消不断上涨的住宅电费。这一趋势甚至可能为电网运营商乃至人工智能（AI）数据中心提供更灵活的能源供应。
New home battery installations reached a record 673 megawatts of energy storage in the first quarter of 2026, according to the US Energy Information Administration. That trend was driven by states with high electricity prices that have implemented policies to incentivize home battery installation, Bloomberg News reported. 根据美国能源信息署（EIA）的数据，2026年第一季度，新增家用电池储能容量达到创纪录的673兆瓦。据彭博社报道，这一趋势主要由电价高昂且已实施家用电池安装激励政策的州所驱动。
This residential battery trend stands out as a natural next step for states that have already successfully boosted rooftop solar adoption among homeowners, given how batteries enable homeowners to use stored solar energy at night. California and Hawaii accounted for the majority of new residential battery storage, while Texas and Arizona also saw significantly higher numbers of installations. 对于那些已经成功推广屋顶太阳能的州来说，家用电池趋势是顺理成章的下一步，因为电池能让业主在夜间使用储存的太阳能。加利福尼亚州和夏威夷州占据了新增住宅电池储能的大部分份额，德克萨斯州和亚利桑那州的安装量也显著增加。
California incentivizes homeowners with solar panels to also install batteries by offering better pricing for residential electricity exported to the grid after sunset, Bloomberg reported. Hawaii offers a one-time payment of $400 for every kilowatt of battery storage that homeowners install. 据彭博社报道，加州通过为日落后向电网输送的住宅电力提供更优惠的价格，激励安装了太阳能电池板的业主同时配备电池。夏威夷州则为业主安装的每千瓦电池储能提供400美元的一次性补贴。
However, the record-breaking home battery installations coincided with a slowdown in residential installations of solar panels—the result of the Trump administration and Republican-driven One Big Beautiful Bill having eliminated a 30 percent federal solar tax credit for homeowners. Nonetheless, US electricity generation from solar power continues to rise and even surpassed coal-fired generation in April. 然而，家用电池安装量的破纪录增长，恰逢住宅太阳能电池板安装放缓。这是因为特朗普政府及共和党推动的《一个宏大而美丽的法案》（One Big Beautiful Bill）取消了针对业主的30%联邦太阳能税收抵免。尽管如此，美国的太阳能发电量仍在持续增长，并在4月份超过了燃煤发电量。
The battery installation spree also coincides with rising electricity costs for US residential customers. The Energy Information Administration’s latest data shows that the nationwide average for residential electricity costs increased by more than 7 percent in April 2026 when compared to electricity costs in April 2025. So homeowners with smart home battery-management systems could benefit from storing energy when electricity prices are lowest and draining them during peak demand periods. 电池安装热潮也与美国住宅用户电费上涨同步。能源信息署的最新数据显示，与2025年4月相比，2026年4月全美住宅平均电费上涨了超过7%。因此，拥有智能家庭电池管理系统的业主可以通过在电价最低时储能，并在高峰需求期放电来获益。
Such increases in home battery capacity also provide more options for power grid operators in managing rising electricity demand—especially through virtual power plant schemes that network together and coordinate the energy storage and discharge of thousands of home batteries while compensating homeowners. 家用电池容量的增加也为电网运营商管理日益增长的电力需求提供了更多选择，特别是通过“虚拟电厂”（VPP）计划。该计划将成千上万的家用电池联网并协调其充放电，同时向业主提供补偿。
Some home battery providers have built this into their business models. For example, the Austin, Texas-based startup Base Power offers heavily discounted home batteries and discounted electricity rates in exchange for managing the overall battery fleet as a virtual power plant. The amount of US home battery capacity incorporated by virtual power plants soared by 153 percent in 2025, according to Yale E360. It also highlighted a demonstration in July 2025 that showed how 100,000台家用电池 could provide more power than a large gas peaker plant. 一些家用电池供应商已将其纳入商业模式。例如，总部位于德克萨斯州奥斯汀的初创公司Base Power提供大幅折扣的家用电池和优惠电价，以换取将整个电池群作为虚拟电厂进行管理的权利。据《耶鲁环境360》（Yale E360）报道，2025年纳入虚拟电厂的美国住宅电池容量激增了153%。该报道还强调了2025年7月的一次演示，展示了10万台家用电池如何能提供比大型燃气调峰电厂更多的电力。
Some companies even see opportunities to tap home battery capacity for energy-hungry AI data centers, which are also contributing significantly to fast-rising electricity demand across the United States. On June 24, the companies Sunrun, Renew Home and Tesla announced an agreement to combine “hundreds of thousands of home battery systems operated by Sunrun and Tesla” into “the largest distributed power plant in the country.” The companies claimed they could deliver more than 16 gW of power to both hyperscaler data centers and utility companies. 一些公司甚至看到了利用家用电池容量来满足能源需求巨大的AI数据中心的机会，这些数据中心也是美国电力需求快速增长的重要推手。6月24日，Sunrun、Renew Home和特斯拉宣布达成协议，将“由Sunrun和特斯拉运营的数十万套家用电池系统”合并为“全国最大的分布式电厂”。这些公司声称，他们可以为超大规模数据中心和公用事业公司提供超过16吉瓦（GW）的电力。
The San Francisco startup SPAN is taking an even more unorthodox approach by installing data center servers at suburban homes—a proposal that incorporates residential batteries and possibly solar panels for backup power. 位于旧金山的初创公司SPAN则采取了一种更为非传统的做法：在郊区住宅安装数据中心服务器。该方案结合了住宅电池，并可能配备太阳能电池板作为备用电源。