According to a brief from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), a Department of Energy program could provide wider opportunities to implement storage technologies.
Currently, the $120 million program helps spur innovation and encourage utilities to implement energy storage technologies. The program is seeking to provide five times more the energy storage supply at one-fifth the cost of today’s lithium ion storage by 2017.
“Effective energy storage can help utilities deal with intermittent power supply, shortages and interruptions, but the high cost of research has been a detriment to developing them.”
The program’s efforts will help develop advanced versions of compressed air, pumped hydroelectric, and flywheel energy storage.
The brief notes that legislation has been introduced to Congress to provide a 30 percent investment tax credit for businesses that install storage technology.
Source: Energy Manager Today