Washington DC, 8 April 2010

ESA study shows 114,000 new jobs possible for Energy Storage with proposed Federal ITC Legislation: The Electricity Storage Association (ESA) released a new study, performed by KEMA, projecting the size of the rapidly growing energy storage market in the US electricity grid.

The report shows the impact on job growth possible with the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) incentives from the Storage Act of 2009 (S. 1091) currently being debated in Congress.  The report analyzes the effects of a 20% ITC for grid-connected energy storage and a 30% credit for onsite energy storage through 2020.

“There is a growing realization among legislators and regulators (federal and state) that energy storage will be a vital element optimizing large amounts of renewable energy in the US grid,” stated Brad Roberts, ESA Executive Director.

Currently pumped hydro storage plants account for just over two percent of the total generating capacity in the US.  The current DOE Energy Storage Stimulus Plan is investing $185M to add 535 megawatts of additional storage in the grid from all sources ranging from Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) to flywheels and batteries.  This new report shows how total storage in the US grid could double in the next decade.  The KEMA analysis looks at aspects of storage applications like regulation/ancillary services, renewable energy integration (wind and solar), onsite storage for end-users and the rapidly emerging Community Energy Storage (CES) approach.

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The complete report has been circulated to ESA members and a copy of the report’s Executive Summary is available on the ESA website at www.electricitystorage.org. A KEMA presentation on the report will be made at the ESA’s 20th Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina May 4 – 7, 2010 - Download study report here:

Attachments:

KEMA-esa

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