The growth of large-scale energy storage and its impact on electric grid reliability and wholesale electricity markets were the focuses of a U.S. House Energy And Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing held on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s hearing was the 11th in the ongoing “Powering America” series. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden
(R-OR), chairman of the full committee, said the potential benefits of battery storage are substantial.
“Batteries allow us to store energy when demand and prices are low and then release that energy when demand and prices are high,” Walden said. “This not only optimizes the way our electricity system works, it also lowers electricity costs, meaning that American families can keep more money in their pockets after paying their monthly electricity bills.”
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, called electricity a “fundamental and essential” part of the everyday lives of Americans. And interruption of electricity service has consequences for the livelihoods, health, welfare, and security of Americans, he added.
“This is why it is important to utilize all forms of tools and technologies, including energy storage, to help ensure our nation’s electric grid is reliable and resilient,” Upton added.
Kiran Kumaraswamy, market applications director at Fluence, testified that energy storage is a cost-effective option because it can provide peaking capacity when it’s needed for the electricity grid. He added that it also brings, “a whole range of other services that the grid needs because energy storage assets are connected to the grid 24/7 in comparison to a natural gas fire peaking plant, which needs to be started up and shut down.”
“When we look at our makeup as whole we don’t look at storage as a replacement for baseload generation – that’s still extremely important for our business, but it provides us these abilities to improve our reliability for rural communities, deal with frequency regulation, help us integrate solar, and provide some peaking needs as well.” Zachary Kuznar, director of CHP microgrid and energy storage development at Duke Energy Corp., said.
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