Tag Archives: lithium ion

SB700 Signed By Governor Brown, Extends SGIP 5 Years

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor

Governor Jerry Brown has signed SB700, the bill also known as the ‘Sun Shines at Night’. The bill, which had passed the legislature in early September, will extend and fund the popular energy storage incentive called SGIP.

“If we are going to get to 100% clean energy, we need to be using solar power every hour of the day, not just when the sun is shining,” said Senator Scott Wiener, author of SB 700. “This bill will protect clean energy jobs while also protecting consumers from ever rising energy bills.”

The California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) backed SB700 as the signature legislation for 2018 and with over 200 solar professionals pushed for its passing at the annual lobby day. Yesterday, CALSSA called for emergency outreach to the Governor’s office to ask for the bill to be signed.

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“By signing this bill, the governor is making the sun shine at night!” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association, the 500-member clean energy business group that championed SB 700 for the past two years. ”Energy storage is critical to achieving our ambitious climate change goals by allowing massive deployment of solar energy and giving everyday consumers another reason to be green.”

SB 700 re-authorizes the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) for five years, extending rebates for consumers through 2025. It would add up to $800 million for storage and other emerging clean energy technologies, resulting in a total investment of $1.2 billion for customer sited energy storage. Boosting energy storage will help California achieve its goal of generating 100% of its electricity from renewable resources, as called for in SB 100 (de Leon), which was signed into law on September 10th. A summary of SB 700 with more details about the SGIP program can be found here.

SB 700 won broad, bipartisan support in the California legislature in August with a 25-12 vote in the Senate and a 57-18 vote in the Assembly. It was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on September 27, 2018. The new law will take effect January 1, 2019.

New York’s Joins The Energy Storage Race With Its Biggest Lithium Ion Battery Project

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

New York has found itself behind its fellow Northeastern states when it comes to joining the solar revolution. New Jersey took the early lead, but now Vermont and Massachusetts are coming on strong, and the Empire State has found itself struggling to make news on its own.

Well, at least outside of its … exuberant governor who is always talking a good game but has little to show for it to date. That may, however, be changing, as Key Capture Energy and NEC Energy Solutions announced they are teaming up on a 20 MW battery storage project in Saratoga County.

The project, called KCE NY 1 is a key part of the next generation of the state’s electric grid and will enhance the power grid’s performance and reliability with reduced carbon emissions, while promoting economic and job growth in upstate New York.

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KCE’s NY 1 project is the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in New York State and supports Governor Cuomo’s commitment for New York State to reach 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025. In Governor Cuomo’s 2018 State of State Address, it was recognized that in addition to providing roughly $2 billion in gross benefits and avoiding more than one million metric tons of CO2 emissions, by 2030 New York’s energy storage industry could employ approximately 30,000.

It also supports New York State’s Energy Storage Roadmap, which was released in June and developed by the Department of Public Service (DPS) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) with input from numerous stakeholders such as Key Capture Energy. The Roadmap identifies near-term recommendations for how energy storage can deliver value to New York electricity consumers and cost-effectively address the needs and demands of the grid.

Additionally, energy storage can help achieve the aggressive Clean Energy Standard goal of getting 50% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030, while at the same time ensuring that carbon is reduced by 40% compared to 1990 levels. This announcement marks an important example of the ever evolving energy landscape in New York State.