The Department of Environmental Protection has announced the formation of a new PA Energy Storage Consortium to discuss policy and market topics to help lead the advancement of energy storage for a modern, resilient, low-carbon grid for Pennsylvania.

DEP has scheduled a September 28 stakeholders meeting open to all interested in being part of the PA Energy Storage Consortium.

The virtual meeting will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.  Click Here to register.

Background

DEP released the results of its PA Energy Storage Assessment in April identifying the status, barriers and opportunities.   Read more here.

Energy storage is critical to increasing the development of renewable energy generation in the state.

In June, DEP made a presentation to the Citizens Advisory Council on the report showing there are now 22 operational or announced utility-scale energy storage projects in Pennsylvania-- 1.07 GW of pumped hydro; 18 MW of lithium-ion batteries; 12.5 MW of lead-carbon batteries; 8 MW of thermal storage and 3 MW of lead-acid batteries.

The PJM told a Senate hearing on May 25 there are now 988 MW of energy storage facility projects being proposed in Pennsylvania, along with 11,636 MW of solar generation and 1,075 MW of wind energy.   Read more here.

DEP’s Assessment makes a series of recommendations to increase the development of energy storage, including--

-- Establish a storage procurement goal or target;

-- Make changes to the utility planning and procurement process for energy storage;

-- Streamlining state and local permitting;

-- Update the interconnection process for distributed energy resources; and

-- support research and development of new energy storage technologies.

Click Here for a copy of the Assessment. Click Here for DEP’s presentation to the CAC.

Related Articles:

-- DEP Issues Report Assessing PA's Energy Storage Capacity For A Cleaner, More Resilient Electric Grid

-- PUC Extends Deadline For Comments On Electric Storage Policies To Increase Reliability And Resiliency Related To Increasingly Frequent Weather-Related Threats

[Posted: August 10, 2021]

8/16/2021