New York State To Adopt Energy Storage Target
Keene Valley, New York. Credit: Matthew Novak
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to create a statewide energy storage target, making New York the fourth state in the country that will have such a target, Greentech Media reported.
The bill to establish an energy storage deployment program was passed unanimously by the legislature five months ago. Cuomo signed it last week. Under the new law, the New York Public Service Commission has until January 1, 2018 to determine a target level for 2030 and decide whether it will be mandatory, PV Magazine reported.
“In essence, the law establishes the energy storage version of the renewable portfolio standards in many states that are designed to encourage utilities to purchase a percentage of their electricity generation from renewable sources like wind, solar, and hydro,” PV Magazine’s Frank Andorka explained.
Currently only three other states have energy storage targets: California, Oregon and Massachusetts. As Utility Dive’s Peter Maloney points out, setting those targets wasn’t smooth sailing. Massachusetts’ energy storage procurement target of 200 MWh by January 1, 2020, has been called too low; a state report indicated that Massachusetts could support three times that size.
California’s target is 1.3 gigawatts by 2020, which Greentech Media’s Julian Spector points out has been viewed as jump-starting the energy storage industry there: “The state has seen job growth from a cluster of storage startups, and benefitted from a rapid-response battery deployment that shored up the southern grid after the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak.”
The ideal size for New York’s storage goal is unclear, although the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST) recommended 4 gigawatts by 2030 in its 2016 Energy Storage Roadmap.
Many hope the new law spurs energy storage development in New York. “It lets industry know that New York State is serious about opening and creating a market for energy storage in the state,” William Acker, executive director of NY-BEST, told Greentech Media.
Once the target is finalized for New York State, NYSERDA and the Long Island Power Authority will run the energy storage program, Utility Dive reported.