With the inclusion of battery energy storage into new building codes and safety standards, it’s obvious just how mainstream storage is today.

Sign one: Everybody’s got a battery to sell

While long-standing off-grid and PV backup suppliers have quietly supported solar-plus-storage applications all along, the nation’s largest solar PV installers like Sunrun, SunPower and Tesla started offering battery products to their customers in the last several years. The companies continue to report dramatic growth in the share of battery sales to their traditional PV-only offerings. The advent of well-packaged, long-life lithium-ion batteries has made energy storage more appealing to consumers.

When the biggest names in solar get behind batteries, their marketing, messaging and political influence increases awareness among consumers, businesses, and governments alike. Their smaller competitors also take up the cause so that they don’t get left behind.

Sign two: utilities and policymakers see the benefits

Ever since utilities in California published the infamous “Duck Curve” showing the growing impact of high solar PV penetration on the grid, batteries have stood out as a potential solution. But it wasn’t until some industry pundits analyzed a proposed gas peaker plant in Oxnard, California compared to an energy storage-based solution that utilities and regulators realized batteries were cost-effective at the scale needed to offset the intermittency of renewable generation sources. Today, many state and local governments incentivize energy storage on both sides of the meter with programs like California’s self generation incentive program (SGIP) and New York’s bulk storage incentives.

Incentives like these have direct and indirect impacts on demand. Much like government incentives for energy technologies going back to the industrial revolution, they signal that businesses and consumers should embrace the technology – and they usually work.

Sign three: Safety is standardized

One of the surest signs batteries in homes and businesses are now mainstream is their inclusion in the latest codes and standards. Building and electrical codes published in 2017 and 2018 acknowledged batteries, but rarely went beyond insisting compliance with the then-new UL 9540 safety testing standard.

The definitive battery safety standard, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 855, was published in late 2019 after a productive engagement between industry representatives and the NFPA – a principal developer of national safety codes. The next round of codes, starting with the 2020 National Electrical Code, has been or will be harmonized with NFPA 855 to provide the same level of guidance to inspectors and building officials that they have for things like HVAC, water heaters and windows.

In addition to ensuring safe installations, these standardized requirements help building officials and inspectors consistently enforce safety requirements – which makes them more comfortable dealing with batteries and related equipment. As inspectors and officials develop routines for permitting and approving battery installations, the risk and time associated with those critical steps decrease, leading to shorter project timelines, lower cost and better customer experience. Like the previous indicators, it is a positive reinforcing cycle that continues to drive growth in the rapidly maturing solar-plus-storage segment.