- Rising renewable energy penetration is accelerating demand for commercial and industrial battery storage beyond traditional grid applications.
- Data centres telecom infrastructure and electric vehicle charging are emerging as key growth sectors globally.
- New IDTechEx analysis highlights shifting technology choices and strong opportunities outside the utility scale market.
The global commercial and industrial battery storage market is forecast to reach a value of US$21 billion by 2036, according to a new report by IDTechEx, reflecting rapid growth in decentralised energy demand across multiple sectors.
As renewable energy continues to expand across electricity networks, battery energy storage systems are becoming increasingly critical for flexibility and reliability. While large lithium ion players continue to dominate grid scale deployments, IDTechEx notes that this concentration has opened space for smaller technology providers to address unmet demand in commercial and industrial applications.
Key growth areas include hyperscale data centres telecommunication towers and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. These applications are expanding across both developed and emerging markets and include on road and off road use cases in construction agriculture and mining. According to IDTechEx demand from these sectors will be a major driver of market value growth over the next decade.
In the United States the rapid rollout of large data centres is expected to place increasing strain on electricity grids. This is likely to drive demand for higher capacity and longer duration storage solutions that can support power needs during periods of supply shortfall. However IDTechEx cautions that growth will not be limited to North America. China is seeing strong momentum from new generations of telecom infrastructure while European manufacturers are increasingly investing in on site energy storage to manage energy costs and resilience.
Looking further ahead IDTechEx expects demand to accelerate in regions beyond the United States and Europe as battery storage supports the electrification of heavy equipment and industrial operations in developing markets.
While lithium ion technology remains dominant across grid commercial and residential storage its limitations are becoming more apparent in certain use cases. Safety concerns degradation and frequent cycling in data centre environments are prompting interest in alternative technologies. These include redox flow batteries sodium ion systems second life electric vehicle batteries and valve regulated lead acid solutions which offer different performance and cost profiles.
IDTechEx notes that technology selection will increasingly depend on application specific requirements including safety lifetime cost and operating conditions. As a result the commercial and industrial battery storage market is expected to remain diverse and dynamic through to 2036.
The findings are detailed in the IDTechEx report titled Battery Storage for Data Centers Commercial and Industrial Applications from 2026 to 2036 which provides regional forecasts technology benchmarking and analysis of key industry players shaping this fast evolving market.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
