Bay State storage: New law could give Massachusetts 3rd US energy storage mandate. 

“That provision could put Massachusetts on “the cutting edge” in energy storage, says Jacqueline DeRosa, vice president of emerging technologies at Customized Energy Solutions in Philadelphia, one of the companies working with Massachusetts agencies on its Energy Storage Initiative.

It is not yet clear what form the procurement targets crafted by DOER will take, but distribution company ownership could mean that the Massachusetts’ mandate is “different than other state mandates,” DeRosa said.

Among the challenges storage faces are regulatory barriers that make it difficult to value its benefits. In some wholesale power markets, for instance, there are not mechanisms in place for compensating storage for services like load shifting and frequency regulation. Distribution companies, on the other hand, would be able to monetize the cost of installing a storage systems by putting it in the rate base.

“Distribution company ownership allows another way to integrate storage into the grid and fully monetize its value,” said DeRosa, adding it could quicken the pace of adoption of energy storage.”

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