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.”