The state of Massachusetts is launching a new $10 million Energy Storage Initiative (ESI). Funding will come from the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), and the initiative includes a two-part study from DOER and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).
The two-part study will start by analyzing the industry landscape, economic development and market opportunities for energy storage, while also examining potential policies and programs that could be implemented to better support energy storage deployment in Massachusetts. The second part of the study will provide policy and regulatory recommendations along with cost-benefit analysis for state policy makers.
DOER will leverage $10 million in Alternative Compliance Payments to establish and support the Commonwealth’s energy storage market. DOER will work to identify and evaluate the appropriate value of the services energy storage can provide to ratepayers and the grid through a market signals assessment, while funding demonstration projects from the utility to residential scales. DOER will work with MassCEC and key market players, in-state and across the country, to assist in the development of innovative projects in the Commonwealth.
The ESI will build upon existing state support for energy storage projects, including $13 million in projects featuring an energy storage component through DOER’s Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative.
