Full Title: Check the Storage Stack: Comparing Behind-the-Meter Energy Storage State Policy Stacks in the United States
Author(s): Jeffrey J. Cook, Kaifeng Xu, Sushmita Jena, Minahil Sana Qasim, and Jenna Harmon
Publisher(s): National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Publication Date: August 20, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
In 2020, the United States had 960 MW of behind-the-meter (BTM) battery storage capacity in the residential and nonresidential sectors, and this market is expected to increase by 7.5 times (to 7,300 MW) through 2025. Current deployment is not equally distributed nationwide, in part because state policy, among other factors, can be critical to shaping clean energy markets and related deployment opportunities. Researchers further suggest state policy may be more effective when it aligns with the concept of policy sequencing, or policy stacking. In short, the implementation of a sequencing or stacking framework—where market preparation, market creation, and expansionary policies are adopted either sequentially or in tandem—may enable a more effective and cost-efficient policy framework that better achieves policymakers’ intended deployment goals than if similar policies are adopted either out of sequence or alone.
This first-of-its-kind BTM storage policy stack includes 11 parent policy categories and 31 policies across the market preparation, creation, and expansion policy components. The max score was 13, and the average state’s policy stack score is 4.8, with a range of 2.5–13.0. California, New York, and Massachusetts lead with scores of 13.0, 10.6, and 9.1 respectively. California is the only state that received the highest possible score across all categories. Nine states scored over 50% in the market preparation category, which helped them into the top ten. On the other hand, Connecticut is the only states that ranked in the top 10 with a lower score (40%) in the market preparation category.