{"id":2299,"date":"2013-10-19T12:25:37","date_gmt":"2013-10-19T17:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=2299"},"modified":"2013-10-19T12:25:37","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T17:25:37","slug":"california-creates-first-state-energy-storage-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2013\/10\/19\/california-creates-first-state-energy-storage-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"California Creates First State Energy Storage Mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director<\/p>\n

\"Battery\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Thursday, October 17, 2013, California adopted a policy<\/a> requiring its utilities to procure a total of over 1300 MW of energy storage capacity by 2020. \u00a0The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved this mandate over the objections of many in the utility industry who argued that the requirements will be too expensive for California ratepayers, given the nascentstate of the storage industry.\u00a0 In rejecting these arguments, the PUC noted that the same was said of the renewable energy industry at the time California adopted its aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard. \u00a0Nevertheless, in the wake of the RPS, costs have come down for renewables, suggesting that the same might happen for energy storage.\u00a0 Even in the shorter term, costs should be contained by the fact that the order requires utilities to procure \u201cviable and cost-effective energy storage systems from among emerging storage technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The storage mandate grew out of a 2010 California bill, AB 2514, . . . .<\/p>\n

which required the PUC to determine appropriate procurement targets for energy storage.\u00a0 The bill left open, however, the possibility that the PUC could determine that the appropriate target was zero.\u00a0 The fact that the PUC set what utilities consider an aggressive target suggests that the Commission finds emerging energy storage technologies quite promising.<\/p>\n

In addition to helping spur the still-small energy storage industry by creating a source of demand, California\u2019s new storage requirement could help address some of the concerns that California has been experiencing over \u201cresource intermittency\u201d as it sources an increasing percentage of its power from renewable sources like solar and wind.\u00a0 These resources are available at the whims of the weather rather than on human demand, potentially creating supply and demand imbalances.\u00a0 Storage can smooth these imbalances by holding excess supply during windy or sunny periods, and then releasing it during periods where these resources are not capable of meeting demand.\u00a0 Storage could therefore prove a key component of a climate-friendly energy supply strategy.<\/p>\n

Creating a storage mandate is a bold step for a state PUC, given these entities\u2019 traditional focus on maintaining \u201cjust and reasonable\u201d rates for state electricity customers.\u00a0 But the California PUC has long been one of the most progressive and path breaking in the country.\u00a0 With this step, hopefully it again sets a precedent that others might follow.\u00a0 But this is only likely to be the case if energy storage technologies can deliver their envisioned benefits at a price that Californians can live with.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Michael Kappel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director On Thursday, October 17, 2013, California adopted a policy requiring its utilities to procure a total of over 1300 MW of energy storage capacity by 2020. \u00a0The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved this mandate over the objections of many in the utility industry who argued that the requirements will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Creates First State Energy Storage Mandate - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2013\/10\/19\/california-creates-first-state-energy-storage-mandate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Creates First State Energy Storage Mandate - 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