The market for energy storage is poised for rapid growth in New York, but progress could be stymied. A flawed plan from NYISO, the state’s electricity grid operator, threatens to slow the integration of these promising new technologies into the market. The Sustainable FERC Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, and other groups filed a protest to NYISO’s plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today, urging the nation’s grid regulator to order NYISO to revise its proposal to ensure energy storage resources can participate on even footing in its markets.
With the costs of energy storage technologies like large batteries rapidly falling and their vast potential becoming clear, FERC has made it a top priority for grid operators to update their market rules to eliminate barriers that prevent storage companies from selling their many valuable grid services to utilities and other large energy users. These barriers can slow technological innovation, reduce competition, and increase prices. Markets run by the nation’s regional grid operators were originally set up with power plants and not energy storage resources in mind. Due to operational differences between the technologies, it can be hard for energy storage resources to efficiently participate in those markets.
In February 2018, FERC issued a landmark order (known in the industry as “Order 841”, discussed here) requiring the country’s several regional grid operators to eliminate their market barriers for energy storage resources. Meanwhile, states like New York have taken complementary action to jumpstart the energy storage industry. For example, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) recently announced a target of 3000 Megawatts of energy storage by 2030, issuing an order that established the regulatory groundwork for a suite of policies designed to galvanize the market. But NYISO’s failure to adequately implement Order 841 now threatens to hinder the state’s plan.
Our coalition is challenging NYISO’s faulty proposal, urging FERC to order NYISO to improve it in three critical areas:
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