PRESS RELEASE
February 25, 2010
Berkeley, CA – Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-14), Chair,
Committee on Natural Resources, working in partnership with California Attorney General
Edmund G. Brown Jr., has introduced AB 2514 – new legislation that will create a smarter,
cleaner electric grid, increase the use of renewable energy, provide Californians with
significant savings by avoiding costly new power plants and transmission lines, and reduce
air pollution. This transformative legislation will also create thousands of permanent new
green-collar jobs.
AB 2514 will achieve these benefits by closing the gap between the United States and
other nations in investments and deployments of energy storage, a booming “green”
industry that represents a significant economic development opportunity for California.
By mandating that utilities incorporate energy storage capacity – 2.25% of daytime
peak demand for power by 2014 and 5% of peak demand by 2020 – the bill will provide
much-needed lower electricity costs to consumers. Greater use of energy storage will
provide the State with a cleaner and less costly alternative to the high costs of generating
and supplying primarily fossil fuel-based power for only part-time daytime peak demand for
power.
“Energy storage is the future—it’s a fast-growing clean technology industry that will
save the state money and reduce pollution,” said Attorney General Jerry Brown, the bill’s
sponsor. “What’s even better is that this new technology could create 8,500 new jobs in
California during the next decade.”
“We applaud Assemblymember Skinner and Attorney General Brown’s leadership in
introducing this essential legislation. This bill will put California at the forefront of a growing
global market that will spur economic development. Given major advances in energy
storage, the industry is now ready to provide high-technology, affordable, reliable products
for California’s utilities and consumers,” noted Janice Lin, Director of the California Energy
Storage Alliance.
Currently, California uses fossil fuel-burning backup power plants, as well as coal-fired
power imported from other states, to help meet its relentlessly growing demand for daytime
peak power. This is costly, inefficient and harmful to California’s air quality. Wider scale
deployment of clean, cost-effective energy storage will enable California to reduce pollution
from greenhouse gases and smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) by reducing the need for
fossil fuel-based peaking powerplants and imported coal-fired power. Further, energy
storage will increase the value and use of intermittent renewable power such as wind and
solar, which often relies on fossil fuel-based backup power. However, California is lagging
behind other states in energy storage deployment. AB 2514 is available at:
www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_2501-2550/ab_2514_bill_20100219_introduced.pdf
Contact: Janice Lin, Director
California Energy Storage Alliance
415.595.8301
jlin@storagealliance.org