Renewable standards boosted 'green' energy. Are storage standards next?
In the cleantech sector, pretty much everyone knows the acronym RPS, for听. Since the first RPS policy in the U.S., implemented in Iowa in the late 1990s,听30 states have passed similar policies to promote the installation of renewable energy projects and听expedite penetration (overcoming the ambivalence or outright opposition of utilities) of renewable energy in electric power supply.
Now, as reported in听, California is considering the adoption of what looks to be the first Storage Portfolio Standard: requirements for utilities to install听.听 Specifically, in early August,听the听听. This builds upon a previous bill,听, which included a mandate for the CPUC to 鈥渄etermine appropriate targets, if any, for each load-serving entity to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by鈥� the end of 2015 and 2020.
Not surprisingly, the three major electric听鈥漧oad-serving entities鈥� (i.e., electric utilities) in California 鈥�,听听and听听鈥� all opposed this movement.听 As did the听, the consumer watchdog organization, which argued that 鈥減icking arbitrary procurement levels鈥ould most likely result in sub-optimal market solutions and increase costs to ratepayers without yielding commensurate benefits鈥�.
As one of my former听听colleagues noted on a number of occasions, quoting an executive who worked his entire career at a large electric utility, 鈥淣o technology has ever been widely adopted by the electric utility industry without having it mandated by the regulators.鈥�
The storage analogue of RPS policy 鈥� let鈥檚 call it SPS 鈥� faces some hurdles, no doubt.听 But so did RPS policies.
Given that听听is now听, given how much听听has听benefited from the听expansion of RPS policies over the last decade, and given how active GE tends to be in energy policy circles,听it鈥檚 not a stretch to think听that there will be听a push for SPS-like policies across the U.S.
It will take time to fully implement, but perhaps grid-scale energy storage will soon be following the path blazed by renewables over the past 15 years, with a听domino-effect of SPS听requirements spreading across the country.
