New York to invest (another) $40 million in energy storage deployment

In continued pursuit of his state’s 50% renewable by 2030 and 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) has announced that $40 million will be made available to solar projects that integrate energy storage.

Like CPS Energy earlier this week, New York is recognizing the necessity of expansive energy storage coverage to shift solar energy’s availability to times of peak demand, outlining in a release that the storage will be used for that goal. This reasoning is likely also behind Gov. Cuomo’s unique battery storage goal, first unveiled in his 2018 State of the State address this past January.

The announcement made New York just the fifth state to create an energy storage mandate, joining Utah, Oregon, Massachusetts and of course California. Furthermore, the state’s 1,500 MW goal is a particularly lofty one. This latests funding is expected to lead to the development of 50 MW of energy storage across the state, a particularly impressive benchmark, considering that the announcement of the pair of 10 MW storage programs in Texas had been considered unprecedented.

“As we continue our aggressive pursuit of clean, renewable technologies, funding for projects like this will ensure New York remains at the forefront of the global fight against climate change,” said Governor Cuomo. “The strategic pairing of energy storage and solar technologies moves us closer to building a clean energy economy that protects critical natural resources and benefits all New Yorkers.”

The funding comes as a part of NY-Sun, Governor Cuomo’s $1 billion dollar project aimed at building a self-sustaining solar market and solar industry in the Empire State. The program has already created a total capacity of 1,203 MW from its 85,327 completed projects to date. This kind of progress is reassuring, as NY-Sun is Gov. Cuomo’s main tool in his plan for total world domination his behemoth 1,500 MW energy storage goal.

“Since its inception, NY-Sun has advanced and completed thousands of projects across the state, bringing us closer to meeting New York’s renewable energy goals by 2030,” said Alicia Barton, President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). “By pairing solar and storage projects the state will accelerate our pace of progress towards Governor Cuomo’s aggressive renewable energy and energy storage targets at even lower costs.”

With Texas and New York, the 5th and 11th largest states in terms of total installed solar capacity according to SEIA, both making major commitments to energy storage in the past week, it would appear that we are in the midst of a shift towards a shift. States are realizing that integrating energy storage to shift solar’s generation to times of peak demand is the best way to maximize clean energy efficiency. Increasingly more state leaders are praising the use of energy storage, including Richard Kauffman, Chair of Energy and Finance for New York State, who said of the funding:

Energy storage will advance even more solar and other distributed energy resources across New York as it improves New York’s electric grid and increases the use of renewable electric to power commercial and industrial businesses. Under Governor Cuomo, New York is building a clean energy economy by promoting innovative technologies under Reforming the Energy Vision and creating new business opportunities while lowering the costs of renewable energy and combatting climate change.