Clean Energy Group releases paper on energy storage

A new report by Clean Energy Group states that batteries for energy storage should be eligible for state energy efficiency incentives throughout the nation.

They are currently eligible for state energy efficiency incentives in Massachusetts and the CEG report contends that others should follow suit.

Massachusetts recently incorporated energy storage as a reduction measure in its energy efficiency funding program. The action was supported with economic analysis provided by CEG.

The new report, “Energy Storage: The New Efficiency ― How States Can Use Efficiency Funds to Support Battery Storage and Flatten Costly Demand Peaks,” explains the steps Massachusetts took to integrate energy storage technologies into its energy efficiency Plan. The Massachusetts plan included expanding the goals and definition of energy efficiency to include peak demand reduction and showing that customer-sited battery storage can be cost effective.

CEG said policies making battery storage eligible for energy efficiency funding could reduce the up-front capital costs of storage and expand the market for this technology.

“One of the key findings of this report is that the old definition of efficiency needs to be

updated,” report author Todd Olinsky-Paul, a project director with Clean Energy Group, said. “As more renewable energy is deployed, reducing peak demand becomes more important. Battery storage can do this, while traditional efficiency measures can’t. States need to expand their efficiency plans to embrace peak demand reduction and the new technologies, like battery storage, that can accomplish it.”

The report provides insights for policy makers in other states who are interested in expanding the definition of energy efficiency. Qualifying energy storage as an efficiency measure would create the possibility for incentives.

“Energy efficiency programs always have included new energy technologies,” CEG President Lewis Milford, who has been involved with various energy programs for more than 30 years, said. “Storage is now a technology that deserves early stage funding support, a trend that other states should follow to bring down their energy costs and bring more customers into this emerging storage market.”

The full report can be viewed at Clean Energy Group’s website.

Clean Energy Group is a nonprofit advocacy organization working on innovative technology, finance, and policy programs in the areas of clean energy and climate change.