The energy storage race just entered a new phase.
In 2026 we’ve moved beyond “any storage” to a clear focus on Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) — the missing piece for 24/7 clean power for AI data centers and heavy industry. 🔋⚡
The energy transition isn’t mainly about replacing fuels—it’s about switching from inefficient heat-based systems (molecules) to efficient electrical systems (electrons).
open.substack.com/pub/electrot...
Bottom line:
The next decade of grid innovation will be defined by long-duration storage.
States that create markets for 8–100+ hour storage will unlock the technologies needed to get more out of the grid we have already paid for.
The LDES race has officially begun.
The big shift in energy policy:
We are moving from measuring MW of storage
➡️ to measuring hours of reliability.
Duration unlocks load growth and resilience.
The technology race is heating up 🔋
Leading LDES approaches include:
• Zinc Halides
• Flow batteries
• Iron-air batteries
• Compressed-air storage
Different costs, different durations — all competing for the same emerging market.
Meanwhile, several states have big storage targets but no LDES carve-out yet:
• Illinois
• Maryland
• Michigan
• New Jersey
Expect many of these to adopt duration mandates next.
Today’s 2026 leaderboard for states with both total storage targets AND specific LDES mandates:
1️⃣ Virginia
2️⃣ California
3️⃣ New York
4️⃣ Massachusetts
These states are building the first real LDES markets.
California remains the policy pioneer.
The California Public Utilities Commission recently removed procurement rules that limited storage duration.
Result: LDES can now compete directly for reliability value.
That’s a big deal.
The scale of demand is staggering.
Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are requesting 1-GW+ interconnections for AI data centers.
Utilities need clean, reliable power — even when transmission is tight.
LDES is emerging as the solution.
The new leader: Virginia 🏆
• Total storage mandate: 20.7 GW by 2045
• 4.52 GW LDES requirement (10+ hours)
• Driven by massive data center load growth in Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.”
Why this shift?
Low-Utilization grids need duration, not just capacity.
4-hour storage = daily balancing
8–24 hour storage = reliability
Multi-day storage = true cleanfirm capacity
Policy is finally catching up to physics.
Early storage mandates were built around 4-hour lithium-ion batteries.
Great for the evening solar ramp.
Not enough for multi-day wind lulls, winter cold snaps, or gigawatt-scale data center demand.
Now regulators are shifting to 8–10+ hour storage mandates.
The energy storage race just entered a new phase.
In 2026 we’ve moved beyond “any storage” to a clear focus on Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) — the missing piece for 24/7 clean power for AI data centers and heavy industry. 🔋⚡
India has a once-in-a-century opportunity to become a global energy superpower.
Not because of oil or gas.
Because of solar, wind, storage, and hydrogen.
A $1T India New Energy Transition Fund could turn energy imports into energy exports. 🧵
On LNG it violates the thesis of the New Joule Order. Countries want Energy Sovereignty and Localization. So replacing oil with LNG creates the same macro problems on the use of US$
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
As usual Arjun Murti brought the heat on this week’s episode of SuperSpiked. I appreciate his passion and his general desire to stick to the data…
I think he deviates from that a little bit here but let’s go through it.
Demand destruction and diversification using LNG, solar/batteries/wind, coal.
More importantly, replacing coal with gas is very expensive. It is a 50 year investment. Most countries were skeptical before because of the low cost of solar/batteries. Now they are revisiting the entire strategy. Investors don’t think LNG will win over 50 years and are worried.
On LNG it violates the thesis of the New Joule Order. Countries want Energy Sovereignty and Localization. So replacing oil with LNG creates the same macro problems on the use of US$
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
On Nuclear, the only way it works is through heavy government involvement/subsidies. You see that in China, Europe, and in the USA. While I love the “vibes” of nuclear and did so much to help the sector in my four years of service, I don’t see how his nuclear comments are supported by “data”.
On Coal, countries will always use what is available domestically. As Arjun Murti points out, pollution that impacts human health (acid rain) has to be dealt with. We subsidize lots of coal in the USA today. How much more is he recommending we subsidize to stay open.
At current oil prices, around 10% of oil demand can easily be shifted to better technologies that consumers want.
•EV adoption
•Fuel economy standards
•Electrified transport and heating
•Industrial decarbonization
These changes gradually reduce oil demand structurally
Capital is moving away from extraction to prioritize the deployment of electrotech.
Institutional investors are moving away from fully merchant markets towards predictable infrastructure returns.
Oil price shocks create economic instability.
Electrification gives a country the tools to shift energy costs to more stable domestic electricity markets.
Why keep an economy dependent on a commodity with geopolitical supply shocks?
Scaling LNG, Coal, Solar, or Nuclear requires policy.
The critical deciders are infrastructure investors, not venture capitalists or private equity investors (oil and gas investors)
Last year they allocated $2.2T for clean, $1.1T for fossil infra. They are scaling proven tech.
Frustration with their allocation is not data driven.
People revisit policies when oil prices spike, but…
Energy transitions happen because something cheaper and better scales, not because oil becomes unaffordable.
Financing and entrepreneurship is now coming for oil demand.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ch...
On demand destruction, the argument is basically that the natural dynamics of the market requires very high oil prices. This is because there is an assumption that there is a lot of inertia and therefore a very high discount rate. So oil has to go above $200/bbl to encourage this
As usual Arjun Murti brought the heat on this week’s episode of SuperSpiked. I appreciate his passion and his general desire to stick to the data…
I think he deviates from that a little bit here but let’s go through it.
Demand destruction and diversification using LNG, solar/batteries/wind, coal.
Nope I wrote it without ChatGPT. Really amazing opportunity for near term energy efficiency.
Bottom line:
India has the talent to become an energy superpower.
It needs to shift its cost of capital from 9-11% to 3-6%.
With the right financing structure, India could manufacture energy at scale and export it to the world.
