Development status, policy, and market mechanisms for battery energy storage in the US, China, Australia, and the UK.

This article examines the development status, policies, and market mechanisms for battery energy storage in the United States, China, Australia, and the United Kingdom, focusing on their experiences to inform other countries' energy storage growth. It highlights the unique physical and economic characteristics of battery energy storage that challenge its integration into electricity markets originally designed for conventional generation. The study reviews how these four countries have implemented policies such as subsidies and market reforms to promote energy storage participation in energy, ancillary services, and capacity markets, noting differences in market models and regulatory approaches. Key challenges identified include improving the economics of energy storage, enhancing market participation especially for small-scale and distributed storage, and addressing safety and system integration issues. The article concludes with recommendations for stable policy support, market mechanisms that reflect energy storage's operational constraints and value, and tailored capacity valuation methods to facilitate large-scale deployment aligned with increasing renewable energy penetration.