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California Legislature and Governor enact four bills that accelerate energy storage markets

 

PRESS RELEASE

September 27, 2016

Sacramento, CA – The California Energy Storage Alliance
applauds the California State Legislature and Governor for signing into law four
important new bills that directly impact energy storage. Collectively, these bills will grow 
the behind-the-meter and utility-scale energy storage markets, create new clean energy
jobs, reduce distributed energy resource interconnection challenges, and ensure that 
bulk energy storage is part of California’s renewable energy future. Governor Jerry 
Brown signed the following bills into law on September 26, 2016: 

  • AB 1637 (Low) – Increases the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) funding 
    by $249 million, sending a clear market signal to industry stakeholders that 
    behind-the-meter energy storage will play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas 
    emissions and supporting the next-generation electric grid. Thanks to the 
    California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) recent SGIP reforms, 75% of the 
    program budget going forward is now reserved for energy storage.
  • AB 2868 (Gatto) - Requires the CPUC to direct California’s three investor owned 
    utilities (IOUs) to accelerate the deployment of distributed energy storage by 
    filing applications for new programs and investments of up to 500 megawatts.
    This bill directly increases the market for energy storage in California, as the 500
    MW is in addition to the 1.325 gigawatt procurement goal that California 
    established in 2013. 
  • AB 2861 (Ting) - Authorizes the CPUC to create an objective, expedited dispute-
    resolution process for distributed, behind-the-meter energy resources
    attempting to establish an interconnection to an IOU's electricity distribution 
    network. This bill and resulting dispute resolution process will accelerate and 
    reduce Rule 21 interconnection costs.
  • AB 33 (Quirk) - Directs the CPUC and California Energy Commission to evaluate 
    and analyze the potential for all types of long duration bulk energy storage, such 
    as pumped hydro, to help integrate renewable generation into the grid. This bill 
    ensures broader consideration of bulk energy storage’s unique capabilities and 
    market roles.

“The leadership demonstrated by Assemblymembers Evan Low, Phil Ting, Bill Quirk, and 
Mike Gatto was instrumental in the development and eventual passage of these 
groundbreaking bills,” said Janice Lin, Executive Director of the California Energy Storage 
Alliance (CESA) and Chair of Energy Storage North America. “CESA is proud to have 
played a key role in these bills, which further enable energy storage to become a valued 
piece of the mainstream energy toolkit, mitigate unwarranted market or 
interconnection barriers, and allow bulk storage technologies to be appreciated as a 
solution to renewables integration.”