New York State could be on its way to crafting the most aggressive energy storage goal in the country.
The target is still a work in progress, but based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) recent announcement and interviews with analysts, it could be set above 1,500 MW by 2030.
“I think the target would be higher than 1,500 MW,” Conor Bambrick, air and energy director at Environmental Advocates of New York, told Utility Dive.
California’s energy storage target is 1,300 MW by 2020. In his state of the state address in early January, Cuomo set a target of 1,500 MW by 2025. But 2030 is the target year that will be established by New York’s current energy storage bill, to keep it on the same track as the state’s 50% renewables goal in its Clean Energy Standard.
‘Eye catching’ goal
Cuomo’s 1,500 MW goal is “eye catching,” Dan Finn-Foley, senior storage analyst at GTM Research, told Utility Dive. But “at most,” he said, “it will serve as one input for the Public Service Commission as they begin the process of designing and setting policy around the final target.”
Finn-Foley called the 1,500 MW goal “aspirational,” but noted that “it comes with serious teeth” in the form of $200 million from the New York Green Bank and $60 million from NYSERDA towards energy storage pilots and deployments. “This level of investment has real potential to kick-start the market, though the timing is still up in the air,” Finn-Foley said.
The timing of New York’s energy storage target has been a stop and go affair from the start. The state’s legislature passed a pair of bills last June that directed the New York Public Service Commission to develop an Energy Storage Deployment Program, including a storage procurement target for 2030. The program would be run by the New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). Cuomo signed the bill nearly six months later, but with a catch — a “chapter amendment,” which is sometimes used when a bill is passed without executive input.
In a signing memo attached to the bill, Cuomo said his office had “secured an agreement with the Legislature to pass legislation in the upcoming session” that would amend the law. That means the storage legislation will not reach its final form until it is amended by the passage of A8921, which has been introduced and is working its way through the legislative process. The bill is expected to pass soon, according to the office of Representative Amy Paulin (D), one of the bill’s sponsors.
Recent Comments