The agency’s roadmap calls for building 325GW of pumped-storage hydroelectricity, and 150GW of battery storage.
The report prioritizes 14 action items in five priority areas where governments and industry can work together to support the development of policies on electricity storage for renewables.
Priority areas include electricity storage to support renewables in islands and remote areas; consumer-located storage for self-consumption in countries with larger shares of rooftop solar PV systems.
It also includes generator and grid-located storage for nations with grid infrastructure constraints; and system analysis tools for countries changing towards renewables.
IRENA director-general Adnan-Z Amin said: "Now is the time to think about integrating large-scale battery storage into the global energy system.
"This roadmap is a starting point for all policy makers seeking to integrate greater storage capabilities, which is necessary to ensure the world is ready for the next phase of growth for renewable power systems."
The roadmap was based on the feedback from several workshops held by IRENA across the world involving over 200 electricity storage experts from 50 countries.
