BESS Market Surges with 12.7 GWh Added in October 2025: Rho Motion

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, by Rho Motion, reported that the global grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) market saw 12.7 GWh of new operational capacity added in October 2025, marking a 29 percent year-on-year increase. 

China led the month’s gains with nearly 8.8 GWh of new utility-scale BESS capacity, including one giga-scale vanadium flow battery, representing a 72 per cent month-on-month increase. 

The United States followed with 2.3 GWh entering operations, a 40 percent month-on-month decline, but still 13 percent higher than October 2024. 

Australia contributed 980 MWh from the second phase of the Waratah Super Battery in New South Wales, although technical issues limited its operating power until 2026. Europe added just under 500 MWh, including a 260 MWh project in Bulgaria with Hithium as the system integrator. Year-to-date global deployments have reached 156GWh, a 38 percent increase over 2024.​

Global Operational Capacity Growth

The steady increase in operational grid-scale BESS capacity highlights robust global growth in energy storage solutions critical for renewable energy integration and grid stability. 

In October 2025, capacity additions grew by 38 percent worldwide compared to the same period last year. China's grid-scale BESS installations grew by 27 percent, Europe and North America each increased by 21 percent, and the rest of the world saw an impressive 242 percent growth, underscoring rapid adoption beyond traditional markets.​

Project Pipeline Expansion

The BESS project pipeline continues to expand, with nearly 75 GWh of new projects proposed or announced globally in October 2025. This marks a 5 percent increase month-on-month. 

Total project pipelines year-to-date have reached 732 GWh, up 23 percent compared to 2024. The largest project added this month is the Yan’an Wenergy Electricity Shaanbei-Anhui HVDC project in China with 4.2 GWh of planned capacity. 

Additionally, 16 new giga-scale projects were announced, 12 of which are located in Australia, a growing hotspot for energy storage. Over 16 GWh of projects assigned technology providers and 32GWh have begun construction globally, including Masdar’s 19GWh project in Abu Dhabi. 

The Middle East shows one of the fastest BESS growth rates globally, with construction speeds rivalling those in China.​

Challenges and Cancellations

Despite robust growth, the sector faces challenges with over 30 GWh of pipeline capacity cancelled in October. A notable cancellation was over 5GW planned for the Esmerelda 7 Solar project in Nevada. Most cancellations occurred in China, linked to recent regional policy changes. 

Technical issues, such as those affecting Australia’s Waratah Super Battery transformer, have also temporarily limited operational capacity. 

Looking ahead, over 153 GWh remains scheduled for operation by the end of 2025, though project delays and further cancellations are expected to reduce this.​