Energy storage is increasingly finding its place in the sun. As a technology, it simply offers too many advantages and meets too many needs to be overlooked: it can ramp faster than a gas plant, it can stabilize voltage and frequency, and it can carry electrons from solar generation to deliver power after dark.
When you add to this the dramatic cost declines for lithium-ion batteries, the combination becomes unstoppable.
Regulators, utilities and state governments are beginning to understand this, and among other policies the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 841 is opening wholesale markets to the participation of energy storage. Add in the tax advantages of coupling energy storage with solar under the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), and you have the perfect storm.
712 MW.
Is that equal to about one coal plant?
Bottom line: solar and wind farms can no longer be "sold" by developers if they don't include storage. And storage is not inexpensive. In Minnesota it's prohibitively expensive.
And so we move on.
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