In early March, Greentech Media hosted the Northeast Solar and Storage event in NYC. The event brought together stakeholders, policymakers, and other interested parties to discuss the latest trends and actions in solar and storage efforts in the northeast.
Here are 5 key takeaways everyone in our industry should know:
New York enacts new law
In 2019, New York enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection (CLCPA) law that which requires the state to produce 100% of the state’s power from renewable and nuclear sources by 2040. This also includes targets:
- 6 GW of distributed solar by 2025
- 3 GW of energy storage by 2030
Massachusetts SMART program leads to renewable efforts
- Massachusetts, also with a 100% clean energy target by 2050 relies on the SMART program.
- Clean Peak Standard enacted in 2019 enables renewable and cleaner methods to supply electricity during peak demands.
- 39% of solar projects are paired with storage
100% Clean energy initiatives
In 2020 three states have announced 100% clean energy initiatives:
- NY: 50% by 2030; 100% by 2050
- ME 100% by 2050
- VA: 100% by 2045
What does this mean? The mandate for renewable energy use has become more aggressive. This likely leads to more innovation in both market design and policy.
Other states are following the leaders
- Liberty Utilities in NH pursuing storage aggregation
- Connecticut discussing storage incentives for solar projects
- Virginia has a 3.1 GW storage target by 2035
- NJ has a 600 MW storage mandate by 2021 followed by 2GW by 2030
- Maryland incentives enabled 3.8MWh of storage in 2019
These states are trying to stay ahead of mandated change, a good play to take initiative and get out ahead of more legislation.
Large Energy Storage Systems have been installed with many more planned
- The largest installed ESS to date is a Tesla Battery Energy Storage (BESS) system in Nantucket with a capacity of 48 MWh
- New York has two 40 MWh capacity systems both on Long Island which includes 5 MW battery storage unit
- New Jersey has two 20 MW/20 MWh battery systems commissioned by Viridity Energy
- The energy storage pipeline in the Northeast includes an additional capacity of 750 MWh, the largest being a Northern Vermont Liquid Air Energy Storage The liquid air storage plant will hold a capacity of 50MW with the ability to store energy for 8 hours enabling capacity of 400 MWh
The good news for the battery industry: we have many battery energy storage initiatives installed and under development throughout the Northeast.
The market is moving and changing at a rapid pace. It’s up to all of us to stay tuned in to the market changes and understand its effects. Check back for more updates as our industry continues to transform!