Key methodological requirements from EMD Article 19e(4,b) – such as accounting for all flexibility sources cost-efficiently and planned investments – are not fully respected; ERAA's simplifications, while suitable for resource adequacy, become oversimplifications in the flexibility needs and replicate the same drawbacks as ERAA;.
Approximately 16 states have adopted some form of energy storage policy, which broadly fall into the following categories: procurement targets, regulatory adaption, demonstration programs, financial incentives, and consumer protections. Below we give an overview of each of these energy storage policy categories.
While California, Oregon, and Massachusetts are the only states with energy storage mandates, other states such as New York and Washington are taking first steps towards robust policy actions through incorporating energy storage value propositions in their IRP processes and energy storage market design studies ( Stanfield et al., 2017 ).
Energy storage policies across the U.S., when they exist, vary greatly. The Interstate Renewable Energy Council recently reviewed U.S. policies related to energy storage and found that very few regions have energy storage mandates and appropriate valuation methodologies ( Stanfield et al., 2017 ).
All of the states with a storage policy in place have a renewable portfolio standard or a nonbinding renewable energy goal. Regulatory changes can broaden competitive access to storage such as by updating resource planning requirements or permitting storage through rate proceedings.
Nevertheless, policy and market barriers that have stifled adoption in past years continue to do so. If only considered for a single service, energy storage often costs more when compared to traditional infrastructure such as thermoelectric generators (Diaz de la Rubia et al., 2017).
Energy storage resources are capable of acting as a transmission, distribution, or generating asset, or as a dynamic load. Therefore, storage assets are usually classified as a function of the service they provide. For storage assets providing multiple services, classification is difficult.
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