The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2025 State of Reliability report, which reviews bulk-power system performance in 2024, finds early evidence that battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are strengthening primary frequency response in regions with high storage penetration.

NERC documented several events in which BESSs supplied 100% of frequency-regulation capacity, and they routinely covered more than 70% of needs during system disturbances.

The graph from the report highlights the chief advantage of BESSs, which is speed. During a frequency dip, the dotted line — representing BESS response — reacts faster than conventional generation. This leads to the frequency nadir— the low point of frequency — being shallower and shorter.

Fast action is critical. If frequency drifts for too long, generating units disconnect to protect themselves, as happened recently in Spain. BESSs have long proved their worth in the fast acting frequency space: Australia’s Hornsdale system — the first big BESS on the power grid in the world — kept the grid stable after a large coal plant tripped offline.

Older solar plants with legacy inverter settings can struggle when frequency strays outside normal limits, a stability concern the report also flags.

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