Beyond the Boom: What 2026 Will Decide for Renewables, Storage and Hydrogen
Summary
We have asked renewable energy experts to share their review of the most relevant developments in 2025 and their outlook into 2026.
In 2025 the global renewable energy market marked what many analysts are calling a historic year. Renewable sources of power – including solar, wind and hydropower – made record additions even as policy uncertainty and shifting incentives tempered investment forecasts. Renewables are now poised to surpass coal in total electricity generation, reflecting the fastest expansion of clean energy the world has ever seen. We have asked renewable energy experts to share their review of the most relevant developments in 2025 and their outlook into 2026.
Record capacity additions were a defining theme, with more than half a terawatt of new renewable capacity added globally, and solar emerging as the principal driver of growth. In key markets such as Germany, renewables supplied nearly 60 % of electricity in 2025 – with solar climbing to 18 % of the national mix and eclipsing coal and gas for the first time. Across Asia, India recorded sharply accelerated deployments of both solar and wind capacity, pushing installations well above the levels achieved in previous years.
Yet despite these advances, the year also revealed emerging headwinds. Growth forecasts for renewable expansion through 2030 were revised downward by the IEA, driven largely by policy shifts and incentive rollbacks in major markets like the United States and China, where declining tax credits and regulatory changes have dampened investor confidence.
Renewables at a Turning Point
“As we look toward 2026 and beyond, the convergence of clean energy technologies and advanced grid management systems will be essential to ensuring reliable electricity for billions of people worldwide. The integration of distributed renewable generation – from solar PV to wind farms – brings significant challenges: dispatch uncertainty, loss of traditional inertia capability, and the need to maintain grid stability while achieving carbon neutrality goals.
Through synchronized measurement technologies and advanced analytics, we can monitor grid conditions in real-time with unprecedented precision, enabling us to predict and mitigate risks before they cascade into major outages. With thousands of phasor measurement units already deployed globally and rapidly advancing machine learning capabilities processing massive datasets – weather patterns, equipment health, market signals – we will increasingly make risk-based decisions that enhance both reliability and resilience.
The grid of the future is not just a technical challenge but a societal imperative that requires collaboration among industry, government, and academia to transform our power systems to accommodate clean energy at scale while ensuring uninterrupted access to electricity for every home, hospital, and business worldwide”, said Mladen Kezunovic, President, SGSMA Association
Energy Storage: From Bottleneck to Backbone
One of the biggest developments in 2025 was the rapid growth of energy storage capacity – a critical enabler for grids with high shares of variable renewables. Large-scale battery installations surged, with global utility-scale capacity rising by nearly 38 % compared to the prior year and more than 150 GWh of new systems deployed by late 2025.
Regional markets saw broad expansion: Asia-Pacific led installations, while Europe and North America both grew by over 20 %.
“BESS is a critical enabler for integrating intermittent sources like solar and wind power, providing stability and flexibility to the grid. The clean energy transition has seen BESS boom across the world as a solution to balancing storage capacity of renewable energy. Certain geographies are best suited to house BESS and are serving as a case study for best-in-class BESS.
In the UK for example, Scotland stands at the centre of a once-in-a-generation, transformative opportunity in sustainable digital infrastructure. As demand for AI and high-performance compute accelerates, Scotland’s abundant renewable energy, cool climate and stable grid make it one of the most compelling locations in Europe for investment in data centres and battery energy storage systems.
We’re also seeing rapid growth in co-location models that pair energy-intensive digital workloads with clean generation and storage, creating genuinely sustainable solutions that strengthen the grid rather than strain it. These trends position Scotland not just as a viable option, but as a leader in building the digital infrastructure of the future”, explains Giles Hanglin, CEO of Apatura.
This boom has not only improved grid flexibility and reliability but also begun to reshape the economics of renewable integration. Lithium-ion battery demand – especially for grid storage and data center resilience – climbed sharply, helping lift prices and signaling renewed supply chain momentum after years of surplus.
Despite this growth, grid bottlenecks and permitting delays in Europe and other regions slowed some storage deployments, underscoring that infrastructure planning must catch up with project pipelines to sustain the momentum.
“In energy storage, cleantech progress is increasingly measured across the complete product lifecycle. The focus shifts from initial installation and operation to a holistic perspective that includes production, transportation, quality, lifetime, service, and end-of-life responsibility.
We are seeing exciting developments in both residential and commercial storage. On the product side, the trend is toward more compact, safer, and longer-lasting batteries. These designs use fewer materials, require less space and fewer transport resources, and deliver more usable energy over their lifespan, all while increasing warranty, safety, and performance.
On the service side, the industry is moving toward more holistic approaches that reduce risk and effort for customers by offering complete solutions. This includes thinking ahead to second life or end-of-life management, with the first LFP recycling plants in Europe now completing the circular product journey”, said Florian Blaser, EFT-Systems – Official Partner of BYD Battery-Box Europe
Hydrogen continued in 2025 to attract both attention and capital as a long-duration energy carrier – but its ascent was more measured than the hype from earlier years. Global markets for hydrogen production, storage and utilization expanded, with projections placing the hydrogen energy storage market near USD 20 billion in 2025 and growing robustly over the decade ahead.
Yet commercial uncertainty and constrained investor confidence have led some energy planners to dial back near-term growth expectations.
In Germany, industry surveys through 2025 indicated that while infrastructure build-out scored modest improvement, stakeholders remained cautious about regulatory and market development conditions, citing high investment risk and limited hydrogen availability as key obstacles.
2026: Momentum Meets Market Realities
As the energy transition enters 2026, the narrative is shifting from sheer expansion to system integration. Battery and long-duration storage will be central to stabilizing grids with high shares of solar and wind. Projections from industry analysts suggest continued strong growth – with global capacity expected to expand rapidly toward the end of the decade as markets in Europe, the Americas and Asia accelerate deployments.
Analysts identify five key trends shaping the coming year, including grid modernization, energy storage deployment, and rising corporate and government commitments to climate targets.
“In 2025, the renewable energy market has matured beyond the ‘land grab’ phase. We are seeing a fundamental shift in value: away from simply having gigawatts in a pipeline, and toward the ability to deliver dispatchable power when the grid actually needs it.
For Econergy, this defines our strategy for the next 24 months. We are no longer just building assets; we are hybridising them. By co-locating storage with our PV plants in Romania and aggressively expanding our stand-alone battery platform in the UK and Germany, we are solving the intermittency problem at scale.
Looking toward 2026, the distinction between a ‘developer’ and a ‘utility’ will blur. Success will come down to merchant agility, using data to manage energy across borders and technologies. That is the Econergy advantage: we aren’t just generating clean energy; we are building the resilient, flexible infrastructure that Europe’s grid demands”, said Omri Spielmann, Director of Strategy at Econergy
Long-duration and hybrid solutions – including coupling batteries with hydrogen and other storage media – will gain greater attention as planners seek to balance short-term frequency needs with seasonal and multi-day energy reliability.
“In 2025, the conversation around energy storage has shifted. Across the industry – from C&I operators to utility-scale developers – the focus is no longer on why storage is needed, but on how it is engineered, protected, and sustained over its lifetime.
For us at EFT Energy Solutions, the most decisive cleantech trends today are safety, data security, and end-of-life responsibility. Our Industrial Flex system reflects this shift with advanced safety design and secure communication architecture, while, on the sustainability side, our own LFP recycling plant – entering operation in 2026 – ensures true circularity for the batteries we deploy.
Cleantech leadership now means delivering high-performance systems with uncompromising safety, secure data pathways, and a closed-loop lifecycle. This is where the industry is moving – and where we are investing heavily”, explains Paul Chester, Head of C&I and Utility storage at EFT Energy Solutions
But challenges remain. In the U.S., aggressive political actions have stalled new offshore wind leases, prompting legal battles with developers and raising broader questions about policy continuity in clean energy markets.
Hydrogen’s strategic role
In hydrogen, 2026 is set to be a year of infrastructure and policy focus. Government initiatives – including clean hydrogen hubs, incentives for electrolyzers, and investments in refueling and storage networks – are expected to broaden market foundations. Yet analysts expect the pace of commercial adoption to remain uneven: utilities, heavy industry and mobility sectors will continue to lead early deployment, while broader uptmailto:https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/hydrogen-energy-storage-market?ake hinges on cost reductions and clearer regulatory frameworks.
“We see the wider adoption of green hydrogen as a key pillar of the energy transition. Despite the many application opportunities, we saw hesitation in certain customer segments in 2025 due to barriers such as financing, transportation logistics, and – above all – a clear route to market for hydrogen. In addition to providing high-precision PEM electrolyzers, we therefore also initiated collaborations with complementary stakeholders within hydrogen industry.
One example is combining Quest One’s technological expertise with the distribution capabilities of Ryze Power. With a joint customer solution to enable end-to-end hydrogen supply, we are establishing a practical and scalable model for hydrogen delivery and an integrated, one-stop solution – supporting both industrial applications and the mobility sector.
Our goal for 2026 is to create additional value for our customers and accelerate the ramp-up of the hydrogen industry in Germany and Europe by removing barriers that slow deployment of green hydrogen”, said Dr. Nima Pegemanyfar, EVP Customer Operations of Quest One
Trends & challenges at-a-glance
- Renewables become the default: Solar and wind dominate new power generation globally.
- Grids are the main bottleneck: Transmission and permitting lag behind project pipelines.
- Storage scales fast, but unevenly: Battery deployment grows, but market rules vary widely.
- Flexibility gains value: Storage, hybrids and demand response become system-critical.
- Hydrogen reality check: Offtake uncertainty slow near-term adoption.
- Infrastructure trails ambition: Electrolyzer and storage rollout lags policy targets.
- Policy uncertainty persists: Shifting incentives undermine investor confidence.
- 2026 is a proof year: Performance and bankability replace announcements.
Conclusion
2026 will be a year of proof points, where projects must demonstrate economic viability alongside real-world decarbonization benefits.
If 2025 was defined by speed, 2026 is shaping up to be about stability and strategy. Renewables are no longer fringe players but central to the global power landscape, yet their continued growth depends as much on political clarity and infrastructure investment as it does on technological innovation. How markets, governments, and investors respond in this pivotal year will likely set the pace for the energy transition over the next decade.
Sources and Copyright: The copyright for the portrait photos lies with the persons portrayed.