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Storage Is Key
To New York’s REV

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has launched its Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative in an effort to overhaul the grid in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, with an eye toward enhancing the reliability and survivability of the electricity distribution system.

The main idea behind REV is to take advantage of the distributed assets installed on the grid and to empower the owners of those assets to participate in grid operations, making it more resilient and efficient. The mechanism of seeing this vision into reality is a two-track process. The first track examines the role of distribution utilities in enabling market-based deployment of distributed energy resources in order to promote greater grid reliability and system efficiency. The second track will examine the changes to regulatory, tariff and incentive structures that would be required to enable the PSC to implement the required policies.

Although the two tracks are intended to proceed in tandem, the first track has priority, as it will define the required technologies and deployment schemes. In February, the PSC issued its ruling on the track 1 effort. A process of evaluation and public comment follows.

There are many stakeholders in the REV initiative - many of which are represented in the working groups the PSC has set up to move the process along. Public comment is encouraged; however, many of the issues are so esoteric that even the specialists are still rather tentative about how the final REV grid architecture is likely to shake out.

Nevertheless, one critical component of the REV initiative is coming into focus as a result of the track 1 ruling: the role of energy storage. Rick Fioravanti, vice president of distributed energy resources (DERs) at DNV GL, says the PSC’s approach to energy storage as a reliability device on the grid could have far-reaching consequences.

DNV GL became involved in the REV initiative through its work with the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST), of which Fioravanti is a founding board member. Last year, DNV GL invested $16 million in the BEST Test and Commercialization Center in Rochester, N.Y., which provides testing and validation services needed to bring energy storage technologies to market.

According to Fioravanti, the PSC made it clear that utility ownership of DERs was going to be the exception rather than the rule. The notion of utility ownership of distributed generation (DG) was troubling to some industry observers watching REV developments, as it might cause utilities to favor their monopoly assets over DG sources. On the other hand, the benefit of having utilities absorb the huge anticipated cost of distributed energy storage on the grid was obvious. Yet, how could utilities be induced to make such an investment if these assets could be taken away from them by some future regulatory fiat?

The answer in the track 1 ruling is to declare energy storage to be a grid reliability device rather than a generating asset.

“One huge exception is storage that is used for reliability,” Fioravanti says. “Out of all the stuff the PSC says in the ruling - where utility ownership would not be allowed - storage technology that is integrated into the grid architecture and used for reliability can be utility-owned.”

Thus, utilities would be able to make the investments needed to deploy storage on a scale required to bring REV about, with assurances that those investments would be protected under PSC rules. As a grid reliability device, energy storage would also have the effect of enabling greater penetration of renewables onto the grid, and under the REV concept, this will almost invariably mean DG photovoltaic power.

“The ramifications are that this is just another step in defining storage in another application that is both an enabler of other technologies and as something that is a benefit to the grid itself,” Fioravanti says. “It’s not a generation device or an arbitrage device. It is actually a reliability tool that needs to be there to help make the grid better and stronger.”

- Michael Puttré

 

Solar And Wind Groups Push EPA Plan

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) have jointly published a handbook detailing how states can incorporate renewable energy into their plans to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, the proposed regulation to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants.

“A Handbook for the States: Incorporating Renewable Energy into State Compliance Plans for EPA’s Clean Power Plan” interprets the more than 1,000 pages of the draft EPA rule and technical support documents and provides step-by-step guidance on how to incorporate renewable energy into the state’s compliance plans.

The handbook details the benefits of using renewable energy as a compliance tool, including the consumer benefits created by integrating low-cost renewables, and provides access to dozens of in-depth renewable integration studies confirming that significant amounts of wind and solar energy can be added to the power system without harming reliability.

State officials can also use the handbook to calculate the carbon reductions from wind and solar energy and to track and credit such reductions. The handbook includes two sample frameworks for model state compliance plans using renewable energy as the key tool to meet the carbon reduction targets.

By the end of 2016, the amount of installed solar capacity in the U.S. is expected to double, growing from 20 GW to 40 GW - benefitting both the economy and environment - with the expected reductions in carbon emissions reaching the equivalent of shuttering 10 coal-fired plants.

U.S. wind power added significantly more new electricity than any other resource in 2014, with cumulative installed capacity increasing 8% to a total of 65,879 MW. Once recently added U.S. wind projects have had a full year of production, total wind output will rise to power the equivalent of 18 million homes.

AWEA and SEIA are urging Congress to extend the production tax credit and investment tax credit to ensure that wind and solar will be ready - and at scale - to keep U.S. air clean, reduce consumer costs, drive business development and create thousands of new domestic jobs once there is a policy that appropriately values carbon-free electricity.

 

Feds Expand Solar Worker Training

U.S. President Barack Obama has set a goal to train 75,000 workers - including military veterans - by 2020 for the growing solar energy sector.

The president made the announcement at Hill Air Force Base in Utah as part of an event focusing on clean energy technology.

The new goal - up from the figure of 50,000 announced a year ago - builds on the progress of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN), which includes nearly 500 partnering educational institutions across the country.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), the national administrator of the SITN, says that more than 1,000 solar instructors have been through the full program and that an estimated 30,000 students have received some amount of training. IREC says it works with nine SITN regional training providers and others in the industry to develop a qualified solar workforce that matches training with evolving industry needs.

Obama also mentioned the launch of the Solar Ready Vets Program, a DOE effort in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense in which veterans at 10 military bases across the country will receive solar training before they leave military service.

“I had the pleasure to help shape the first pilot veteran training programs that took place over the last several weeks,” says Joe Sarubbi, project manager for the SITN. “They will serve as models for the expanded initiative announced by the administration. We were so proud to report that the graduates from the first three-week training program at Camp Pendleton all received job offers.”