The Maryland Public Service Commission has officially opened an energy storage pilot program for the state's investor-owned electric utilities.
The commission on Aug. 23 directed Exelon Corp. subsidiaries Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., Delmarva Power & Light Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co. as well as FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary Potomac Edison Co. to solicit and seek approval for energy storage projects.
The program was called for under legislation approved in March and signed into law by Gov. Larry Hogan in May.
At the time, the commission had already been considering a storage pilot program offered in a larger grid modernization proceeding known as Public Conference 44. The bill's sponsor, Delegate Marc Korman, said the bill would ensure the program is implemented in a timely fashion and that the effort had legislative backing.
The legislation set up a timeline for each utility to solicit and seek approval for two energy storage pilot projects, with the first due for commission approval by April 15, 2020, and the second by Sept. 15, 2020.
But an energy storage working group, formed as part of the commission's grid modernization proceeding, on Aug. 1 proposed to speed up that timeline. Under that proposal, utilities would file for approval of both projects by April 15, 2020, with regulators accepting or rejecting the proposals by Dec. 15, 2020. This would provide time for resubmission and consideration before a statutory deadline of April 15, 2021, for the commission to pick which projects to approve.
The commission agreed to the proposal, calling it "complementary" to the law.
The commission also put off consideration of the cost recovery mechanisms and the appropriateness of a need for utility incentives, saying it would make these determinations on a case by case basis for each application.
The projects are to start operation by Feb. 28, 2022. The program expires at the end of December 2026.
In its order, the commission also called for applications to address the impact of each project on other state policy goals, including environmental and clean energy objectives and the development of Maryland's retail energy markets. The energy storage working group has until Dec. 31 to propose metrics on environmental and clean energy objectives and impacts on the retail energy market for use in evaluating the proposals, regulators said. (Maryland PSC Case No. 9619)
