Nevada Just Became the Most Exciting State for Energy Storage Policy
research literature is any guide, taking into account all those factors will likely lead to a finding of storage as a net positive, which will prompt a regulatory procurement target. If it’s going to be required anyway, why not use it to fulfill some of the RPS requirement too?
The pro-storage fervor did not come out of nowhere. Nevada, after all, is home to the largest grid storage manufacturing capacity in the U.S. — Tesla’s Gigafactory. The state stands to benefit from a modernized and cleaned-up grid, but storage expansion also serves economic development goals.
“Nevada’s kind of thinking outside the box when it comes to storage technology — they have leaders in the industry in the state, so they’re looking to expand that technology and make it more valuable,” said Ray Fakhoury, who tracked the bill’s progress as a state policy associate at Advanced Energy Economy, which represents businesses that manufacture, develop and purchase clean energy.
These robust renewables and storage incentives strengthen Nevada’s efforts to attract large corporate entities to set up shop in the state, as many of those companies have ambitious clean energy targets themselves, he added.
California’s first-mover status in storage policy helped it attract most of the U.S. activity thus far. Other states may be able to capture some of the job creation by spurring an industry in their own borders, but the competition is heating up.
“There’s a reason why a large part of the grid storage industry is now based in California,” Burwen said. “There’s only really a couple more opportunities for states to take leadership and ensure a significant part of the industry decides to make their home in those places — the window is closing.”
Source:GTM
