The Obama Administration has announced a series of federal and private sector actions to scale energy storage in the US.
At the Summit on Scaling Renewable Energy and Storage with Smart Markets, which brought together regulators, power companies, municipalities, and energy developers, the Obama Administration announced new executive actions and 33 state and private sector commitments that the government hopes will “accelerate the grid integration of renewable energy and storage.” Specifically, the Obama Administration believes these new executive actions will result in at least 1.3 GW of additional energy storage procurement or deployment over the next five years.
Among the actions announced by the Obama Administration is a commitment from the federal government to increase its storage and microgrid capacity, investors announcing $130 million in new funding commitments for energy storage, the US Department of Energy will commit to promote access to and standardization of energy data, and the promise that, “In aggregate, these new procurement, deployment, and investment commitments, … could lead to approximately $1 billion in investments in energy storage.”
In response to the announcement, Ravi Manghani, energy storage director at GTM Research, explained that the energy storage industry now has its own SunShot Initiative which “provided a shot in the arm for the then fledgling solar industry.” Specifically, “Now the storage industry has a similar benchmark to measure its growth against.”
“Adding a nationwide storage public-private push into the equation will provide a well-earned boost to the market, and in all probability, an upward bump in the storage outlook,” said Ravi Manghani in a brief published timed with the announcement. “The market will receive a direct lift from the program investments, and additionally surge due to positive network effects from a well-funded and expanding industry ecosystem.”
A full list of the 33 commitments can be found in the Fact Sheet made available by the Obama Administration.
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