The government of Massachusetts released a study last Friday that lays out the costs and benefits of energy storage, setting the stage for a storage mandate that is yet to be determined.

The report concludes that 600 megawatts of storage capacity installed by 2025 would save the state’s ratepayers $800 million in system costs. Not only that, but if storage is properly located and market and policy barriers are removed, a deployment of 1,766 megawatts would optimize system benefits for ratepayers.

Plenty of researchers have modeled the value that storage and other distributed energy resources can provide for the grid. The State of Charge report, though, comes after Governor Charlie Baker signed an energy bill in August authorizing the Department of Energy Resources to set a storage target. That same department co-authored this report, marking one of the very few times when the authors of such research have the legal authority to enact their recommendations.

“These findings will be a driving force for establishing procurement goals in the state, and clearly demonstrate that the value of energy storage extends far ‘beyond the fence’ of any one system,” wrote Energy Storage Association Executive Director Matt Roberts in an email Friday.

Assuming the department follows through on its prerogative, Massachusetts will be only the third state to issue a mandate for energy storage, following California and Oregon. Since storage can provide readily available power during peak demand events, it’s useful to measure a target as a percentage of a state’s peak load. The 600-megawatt figure in the report would equate to about 5 percent of Massachusetts’ peak load, whereas Oregon’s target is 1 percent and California’s is 2 percent.

“In peak load percentage metrics, this is already a more aggressive target than the other two states,” said Ravi Manghani, energy storage director at GTM Research.

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The U.S. energy storage market is in a period of transition.

Last year was a big one for storage, with Q4 2015 alone logging more total megawatts deployed than 2013 and 2014 combined. This growth drew increased attention from investors, regulators, consumers, and system operators. And in 2016, battery storage has expanded its foothold beyond its historically favorable markets, capitalizing on improved economics and a renewed focus on reliability. GTM Research has analyzed several key indicators of a transition for America’s storage market.

Front-of-the-meter deployment trends

The front-of-the-meter energy storage market logged another strong quarter in Q2 2016, recording 32 megawatts of new installations. This new capacity is down 10 percent from Q2 2015, but up over threefold from Q1 2016, continuing the trend from 2015 of deployments increasing toward the end of the calendar year.

Grid-scale energy storage is getting traction outside of its historically strong markets. New deployments in PJM are down in 2016 following the institution of an interim cap on RegD resources the frequency regulation market. For the first time since Q2 2014, PJM did not represent the majority of utility-scale deployments.

Front-of-the-meter policy trends

Policy developments dominated news in the front-of-the-meter market. Energy storage procurements in response to the Aliso Canyon gas leak in California could serve as a case study for energy storage as an expedited solution to capacity issues. SDG&E has signed an agreement with AES to install and commission 37.5 megawatts of Samsung batteries by January 2017. SCE has announced two 20-megawatt projects, one to be built by AltaGas with Greensmith batteries and one using Tesla batteries, along with a 2-megawatt project by Powin Energy and a 5-megawatt project from Western Grid. Successful deployment in the short timeframe required would be a tremendous success story for grid-scale batteries, and serve as further proof of the technology’s speed of installation and potential to enhance reliability.

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The California Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 20 issued a final written approval, following a review of the matter at a Sept. 15 commission meeting, on four energy storage agreements for Pacific Gas and Electric and three energy storage agreements for Southern California Edison.

Two purchase and sale agreements for PG&E were not approved. The commission determined that SCE has met its 2014 energy storage targets with approval of these contracts, but that PG&E has not yet met its 2014 targets.

In December 2010, the commission opened a rulemaking to implement the provisions of Assembly Bill 2514. AB 2514 directed the commission to determine appropriate targets, if any, for each load-serving entity to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems and set dates for any targets deemed appropriate to be achieved. In response to this mandate, the commission adopted a biennial storage procurement program.

In December 2015, SCE and PG&E filed applications seeking approval of the results of their 2014 Energy Storage Request for Offers. SCE sought approval for three contracts for a total of 16.3 MW of distribution-connected storage. PG&E sought approval for four energy storage agreements whose function is generation/market participation and two purchase and sale agreements whose purpose is distribution deferral for a total of 72 MW.

Although PG&E‘s short-listed bidders included resources in all three grid domains (transmission, distribution, and behind the meter), the contracted resources connect only at the tr

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Massachusetts plans to offer $10-$20 million in energy storage grants this fall, as it positions for a paradigm shift in the economics of electricity.

State officials described the upcoming solicitation in a call Friday with the media, with release of a new report, “State of Charge,” which calls for Massachusetts to add 600 MW of energy storage by 2025.

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The US is to invest $37 million (£27.7m) in new energy storage projects.

A total of 16 projects will receive a share of the fund from the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

By creating high performance parts built with solid ion conductors, the programme will focus on new ways to process and integrate these into devices to accelerate their commercial deployment.

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Sungrow-Samsung SDI, a world-classenergy storage system supplier, has released new energy storage systemsolutions at Solar Power International 2016, the largest solar tradeshow in the North America (Las Vegas, NV; Booth #2059).

The system solution integrates, energy storage inverters and Li-ion batteries and is designed to address system integration problems, especially in the North America market and is based on Sungrow-Samsung SDI’ cutting-edge technologies. This integrated system solution is applicable to commercialenergy storage, energy storage power systems and the micro grid.

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WASHINGTON — The Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) today announced $37 million in funding for 16 innovative new projects as part of a new ARPA-E program: Integration and Optimization of Novel Ion-Conducting Solids (IONICS). IONICS project teams are paving the way for technologies that overcome the limitations of current battery and fuel cell products.

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With the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s announcement this month that, in no uncertain terms, climate change played a pivotal role in Louisiana’s unprecedented rainfall and catastrophic flooding, it’s clear that, as a nation, we must take notice. Our coastal communities, from California to New York, are in increasing danger and these “historic” moments will soon become the norm if we are not careful.

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If electric-car maker Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) has its way, there will be a day when it is just as much of an energy company as it is an automaker. Its 2014 introduction of energy storage products for residential and commercial customers and its construction of the world’s largest battery factory highlight its bet on an energy-storage dependent electric future. To this end, the company has dropped Motors from about every reference to the company except its official publicly traded name, now going by “Tesla” instead.

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AES Energy Storage and RES are the leading utility-scale energy storage systems integrators in terms of strategy and execution, according to Navigant Research.

“AES Energy Storage and RES serve primarily as full project developers that also have in-house systems integration and software and controls expertise, which is a model Navigant Research believes offers great scalability,” Navigant‘s report reads.

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