Massachusetts has doubled its commitment to developing an energy storage market for the state by awarding $20 million in grants to 26 projects in 25 communities. The projects will draw in $32 million in matching funds as well.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Dec. 7 the second phase of his administration's energy storage initiative at UMass Memorial – Marlborough Hospital. A critical care facility, the hospital will use the grant program to integrate a 400-kW solar canopy and energy storage system to reduce energy use and costs, shave peak demand and increase the building's resilience.
The grant money is a part of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's energy storage initiative, which was launched in 2015 by the Baker-Polito administration at an initial cost of $10 million. The program was aimed at making Massachusetts a national leader in energy storage by identifying opportunities in supporting energy storage companies, accelerating the development of early commercial storage technologies and crafting policies to encourage commercial deployment.
Energy storage technologies include batteries, flywheels, thermal storage and pumped hydroelectric storage, which are capable of storing energy during off-peak periods when costs are low and then make energy available during peak periods when costs are higher. Energy storage can also boost the effectiveness of renewable energy sources, such as solar, by storing energy generated during the day for use at night and during outages. Storage can also help cut greenhouse gas emissions and shore up grid reliability and resilience.
"The development and deployment of energy storage projects will be vital to the Commonwealth’s ability to continue leading the nation in energy efficiency," said Gov. Baker. "Funding these storage projects is an investment in our energy portfolio that will reduce costs for ratepayers and help create a clean and resilient energy future."
Funded by the state Department of Energy Resources, or DOER, through alternative compliance payments, the first phase of the initiative commenced with the September 2016 release of a strategic plan to deploy 600 MW of energy storage technologies by 2025. The DOER study claimed that the move would save ratepayers more than $800 million in energy costs and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 350,000 metric tons over 10 years.
The DOER followed up the report in June by setting an energy storage target of 200 MWh by 2020 but gave Massachusetts' three electric distribution companies flexibility on how best to achieve the goal at the most cost-effective way. Utilities are also in charge of identifying the best locations to deploy energy storage technologies, both in front and behind the meter. Under the 200-MWh target directive, electric distribution companies are required to submit annual progress reports starting in 2018 and a final compliance report by the start of 2020.
The projects awarded under the latest funding program amount to a total of 32 MW and 85 MWh of energy storage capacity, of which 16 MW and 45 MWh are within electric distribution company territory. Currently, Massachusetts has approximately 4 MW and 7 MWh of advanced energy storage installed.
