The energy grid wasn’t built with solar panels and wind turbines in mind. It was designed around predictable, dispatchable power, the kind you can dial up or down on demand. Renewable energy doesn’t always cooperate with that model, and utilities are increasingly wrestling with what to do when the wind is blowing hard at 2am and nobody needs the power.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are quickly becoming part of the solution to that problem. While solar and wind generate electricity, a BESS stores it for later use. They’re two distinct technologies that work best when paired together. At the core, these facilities do something simple: they store energy when there’s too much of it and release it when there isn’t enough. That sounds straightforward, but the impact is significant. BESS gives utilities a tool to actively manage grid performance rather than just react to it, smoothing out the peaks and valleys that come with an increasingly renewable energy mix.
Why Battery Storage is Having its Moment
It’s worth noting that battery technology itself isn’t new. What’s changed is the pace of adoption and the scale at which it’s being deployed, particularly for our Midwest teams. Lithium-ion batteries have emerged as the dominant technology, offering a combination of efficiency and scalability that earlier solutions couldn’t match. Most facilities today are designed as four-hour systems — charged during periods of surplus generation, then discharged strategically throughout the day to support grid needs as they shift.
At the same time, the rise of data centers and AI has added another layer of urgency. These facilities require massive, highly reliable power capacity, and the load can fluctuate in milliseconds. BESS responds quickly, buying time for gas turbines or other resources to ramp up while keeping the grid stable.
How Barton Malow is Building BESS Facilities
Our Barton Malow Canada teams have been active in the BESS space for some time now. Years of hands-on experience—including landmark projects like the Sanjgon Battery Energy Storage Facility—have positioned our Canadian teams as leaders in the field. That depth of knowledge doesn’t stay north of the border. As battery storage demand grows across the Midwest, hard-won insight and expertise are funneled to our U.S. teams, helping accelerate our entry into a market we’re well-prepared to serve.
That foundation runs deeper than BESS alone. It’s built on years of renewable energy experience that translates naturally into battery storage work. Solar and wind projects demand extensive electrical scope, complex site logistics, and tight coordination across multiple stakeholders. BESS projects require all of that and more.
Equally important is early-phase execution. Many BESS projects move forward in places where regulatory frameworks haven’t fully caught up with the technology. Zoning ordinances are still being written. Setback requirements are unclear. Without established guidelines to work from, close coordination with our clients becomes critical, helping them communicate project requirements to municipalities and translating their input regularly back into the development process. Changes that may seem minor during development can ripple through site layout and overall design in ways that are costly to unwind later, making that early alignment essential.
Lessons from renewable energy delivery are shaping how we approach this work. Dedicated development teams focused specifically on front-end planning, early permitting, and risk identification help streamline the transition from concept to construction. The goal is to apply repeatable processes and make informed decisions about how a project moves forward.
A Market with Room to Grow
The market itself continues to evolve. BESS facilities are increasingly being co-located with solar and wind farms, capturing generation that would otherwise be curtailed. Others operate as standalone systems, integrated into the grid independently. Both models are growing, and both require the same disciplined approach to execute well.
The momentum here isn’t slowing down. The combination of renewable investment and surging demand from data centers and AI means storage solutions are only becoming more essential. The companies that can deliver complex, electrically intensive projects reliably and at scale will be well-positioned as the market matures.
Battery energy storage isn’t on the horizon anymore. It’s here, and it’s becoming foundational infrastructure. The question isn’t whether these systems will be built; it’s who’s equipped to build them well, and Barton Malow is positioned to do exactly that.
About the Author: Scott Toboy is a Project Director with a strong track record of delivering complex construction projects for energy clients. With expertise spanning all aspects of construction management — scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk — Scott brings the technical know-how and collaborative leadership that keep teams aligned and projects moving forward from concept through completion.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Battery Energy Storage System stores electricity when there is a surplus — such as when wind or solar generation exceeds demand — and releases it back to the grid when power is needed. This helps utilities actively manage grid performance, smoothing out the peaks and valleys that come with renewable energy sources.
Several factors are driving demand. The rapid growth of renewable energy means the grid increasingly needs tools to manage variable generation. At the same time, the explosion of data centers and AI facilities — which require massive, highly reliable power — has added urgency, as BESS can respond almost instantly to fluctuating loads while other power sources ramp up.
Lithium-ion batteries have emerged as the dominant technology in BESS facilities due to their efficiency and scalability. Most systems today are designed as four-hour systems, meaning they can be charged during periods of surplus generation and strategically discharged throughout the day to meet shifting grid needs.
Barton Malow has hands-on BESS construction experience, including landmark projects like the Sanjgon Battery Energy Storage Facility. That expertise flows directly to U.S. teams, complemented by years of renewable energy project delivery — giving us a strong foundation in the complex electrical scope, site logistics, and stakeholder coordination these projects demand.
One key challenge is that regulatory frameworks — zoning ordinances, setback requirements, and permitting guidelines — often haven’t kept pace with the technology. Barton Malow addresses this through dedicated front-end planning teams that work closely with clients to navigate municipal requirements early, identify risks, and prevent costly changes from rippling through the project later.
