How Long-Duration Energy Storage Is Changing US Grid Planning and Hiring
As renewable generation grows and electricity demand rises, the US grid must manage renewable variability across longer periods of low generation or high demand. That is accelerating interest in long-duration energy storage, alongside continued growth in grid-scale battery storage.
The wider storage market is already expanding rapidly. The US Energy Information Administration expects developers to add 24 GW of utility-scale battery storage in 2026, compared with a record 15 GW in 2025. More than 40 GW has been added over the last five years.
For long-duration energy storage, however, the challenge is not simply adding more capacity. Delivering these projects increasingly requires power systems, controls, commissioning, safety, and operations teams to work together from development through commercial operation. As deployment grows, shortages in any of these areas can affect project schedules. To prevent this, workforce planning needs to happen alongside project planning, not after it.
Moving from Storage Capacity to System Duration
Deployment of long-duration energy storage is accelerating globally as grids accommodate more renewable generation and new sources of electricity demand. BloombergNEF reports that annual energy storage additions, excluding pumped hydro, reached 112 GW in 2025, with the US accounting for 16% of those additions. It expects additions to reach 158 GW in 2026.
The question is increasingly not how much storage the market can install, but how long that storage can support the system. BloombergNEF expects additions in its six-hour-plus long-duration category to quadruple to 2 GW in 2026, with much of that growth coming from technologies outside lithium-ion.
That changes the expertise project teams need to deliver these projects successfully. Companies need to plan grid integration, engineering, controls, commissioning, and operations hiring together rather than in isolation.
A shortage in one area can affect another, and gaps in experience can create problems further along the project. This becomes more important as newer storage technologies move into commercial deployment and introduce operating requirements that differ from conventional lithium-ion assets.
How Specialist Expertise Supports Project Delivery
Workforce pressure is already visible across the US storage market. Storage developers are competing for many of the same people. The same engineers and project leaders who understand utility-scale storage, grid requirements, commissioning, and power systems can often move between standalone BESS, solar-plus-storage, and newer long-duration technologies.
Demand is particularly strong for expertise in:
Grid interconnection and high-voltage systems
SCADA, controls, and energy management systems
Commissioning and operations
Fire safety and storage compliance
When companies bring specialist expertise in too late, other teams can inherit additional work, compressed timelines, or delays.
Geography adds another talent constraint. EIA data shows that Texas, California, and Arizona account for around 80% of planned US utility-scale battery storage additions in 2026, with Texas alone representing 12.9 GW. Companies building in these markets are not only competing on technology. They are often competing for people in the same regional talent pools.
Why Workforce Planning Needs to Start Earlier
Long-duration energy storage projects are ultimately governed by technical milestones, grid requirements, construction schedules, and commissioning dates. Meeting those milestones depends partly on having the right expertise in place at the right time.
Projects set the pace. People set the outcome.
Map hiring needs against the project schedule
Work backwards from commercial operation through commissioning, energisation, construction, and development. Identify which roles are needed at each stage, and the latest realistic date each person needs to be in place. Talent intelligence can then be used to show the size and location of the relevant candidate pool, compensation expectations, geographic constraints, and likely search times.Decide where technology-specific knowledge is essential and where experience can transfer
Not every appointment needs direct long-duration storage experience. Some professionals working across established battery energy storage solutions will bring relevant skills from utility-scale BESS, grid infrastructure, or adjacent energy markets. The priority is to identify which knowledge is essential and where transferable experience can widen the talent pool.Build project teams before timelines tighten
Some roles become much harder to fill once construction or commissioning is already underway. Where several appointments are linked to the same development, construction, or commissioning milestone, planning them together can reduce the risk that one delayed hire holds up another part of the project. We coordinate linked searches against the project schedule, reducing the risk that one delayed appointment affects another part of delivery.Use interim expertise where permanent hiring is not the right answer
Permanent headcount is not always the right response to a temporary technical requirement. Interim or fractional specialists can support defined project stages such as commissioning, grid connection, or technical due diligence, particularly where the long-term operating model is still taking shape.Keep building the talent pipeline before the next project starts
The strongest energy transition talent pipeline is built before a vacancy appears. Tracking relevant candidates, compensation expectations, geographic availability, and adjacent-sector talent gives companies more options when the next project moves forward. Regular benchmarking can show where candidate availability, compensation expectations, or competition are changing before the next hiring cycle begins.
Planning for the Next Phase of US Storage Growth
Investment in US storage continues to grow, and expansion across the wider energy storage systems market means long-duration projects are competing for experienced grid, engineering, commissioning, controls, and operations professionals who are already in demand elsewhere.
In our work across storage and grid infrastructure, we see developers competing with utilities, EPCs, OEMs, and technology providers for many of the same experienced professionals, particularly in markets such as Texas, California, and Arizona where deployment is concentrated.
For companies planning long-duration projects, knowing which skills will be scarce, where they can draw on adjacent experience, and when each person needs to be in place gives project teams more options before timelines tighten.
We help storage developers, investors, and technology businesses plan the talent needed at each project stage. Depending on the project, that can include talent intelligence and workforce planning, executive and leadership search, team builds, or interim expertise for a defined stage of delivery.
If you are planning a long-duration energy storage project and want to understand the talent landscape further, send a message to a member of our US energy transition team, and let’s talk.
