The New York State Public Service Commission approved a plan for the state to achieve 6 GW of energy storage by 2030, which represents about 20 percent of the peak electricity load of New York State, according to a statement from the governor's office.
The roadmap is a complete set of recommendations to expand New York's energy storage programs to cost-effectively reveal the rapid growth of renewable energy across the state and bolster grid reliability and customer resilience. It will also support a buildout of storage deployments estimated to reduce projected future statewide electric system costs by nearly $2 billion, with benefits like improved public health due to reduced exposure to harmful fossil fuel pollutants.
The announcement backs the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goals to generate 70 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent zero emission electricity by 2040.
While finalizing plans for the roadmap, the Department of Public Service staff and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) assessed potential market reforms and cost-effective procurement mechanisms to achieve 6 GW, and identified research and development requirements to fasten technology innovation for long duration storage.
The agencies also considered approaches to energy storage development in a way allowing the elimination of the state's most polluting fossil fuel power plants, as proposed by Gov. Hochul in her 2022 State of the State address.
The roadmap will initiate programs toward procuring an additional 4.7 GW of new storage projects across the bulk (large-scale), retail (community, commercial and industrial), and residential energy storage sectors in the State.
The future procurements, combined with the 1.3 GW of existing energy storage being procured or already under contract with the State and moving toward commercial operation, will allow the State to achieve the 6 GW goal by 2030.
Roadmap details include:
· 3,000 MW of new bulk storage, enough to power approximately one million homes for up to four hours, to be procured through a new competitive Index Storage Credit mechanism, which is anticipated to provide long-term certainty to projects while maximizing savings for consumers;
· 1,500 MW of new retail storage, enough to power approximately 500,000 homes for up to four hours, and 200 MW of new residential storage, enough to power 120,000 homes for up to two hours, to be supported through an expansion of NYSERDA's existing region-specific block incentive programs;
· Utilization of at least 35 percent of program funding to support projects delivering benefits to Disadvantaged Communities (DACs) and targeting fossil fuel peaker plant emissions reductions, with program carve-outs for projects sited in the downstate region, given its high concentration of DACs and peaker plants;
· Requiring electric utilities to study the potential of high-value energy storage projects toward providing cost-effective transmission and distribution services not currently available through existing markets;
· Continued prioritization by existing programs on investing in research and development related to reliable long-duration energy storage technologies; and
· Payment of prevailing wage as a programmatic requirement for energy storage projects with a capacity of 1 MW and above, demonstrating the state's continued commitment to driving family-sustaining jobs in clean energy.
