The state of Massachusetts recently completed an assessment on energy storage, titled State of Charge: Massachusetts Energy Storage Initiative Study, a yearlong comprehensive energy storage study by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). The study evaluates and demonstrates the benefits of deploying energy storage technologies in Massachusetts and also analyzes the economic benefits and market opportunities for energy storage in the state.
Daymark Energy Advisors co-authored the study with Customized Energy Solutions, DOER and MassCEC, providing an economic model to project growth of the Massachusetts energy storage technology industry over the next decade. Daymark utilized MIG Inc.'s IMPLAN (IMpact analysis for PLANning) input/output economic model to estimate the potential impact on gross state product, employment and income that would result from energy storage technology growth costs within Massachusetts' economy. Daymark also analyzed the inputs for the economic models, including projected growth for high-value energy storage use cases and the resulting energy storage installations over the next 10 years.
"The study's policy recommendations could generate 600 MW of advanced energy storage in the state and provide $800 million in system benefits to Massachusetts ratepayers over the next decade,” said Kathy Kelly, Daymark Energy Advisors' vice president and principal consultant. "It's gratifying to make a substantive contribution to an assessment that could have such a profound effect on the state's economy, and perhaps become a model for other states to follow.”
The DOER, MassCEC, and the State of Charge Study Consultant Team, which included consultants from Alevo Analytics, Strategen Consulting and Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC, began work on the study in late October 2015, subsequently hosting webinars and conducting surveys and interviews with key industry stakeholders. More than 300 representatives from the utilities, municipalities, competitive suppliers, storage project developers, renewable generation developers, storage technology companies and the regional grid operator, ISO New England (ISO-NE), participated in the study.
State of Charge was commissioned by Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito as part of the administration's $10 million Energy Storage Initiative (ESI), which aims to make Massachusetts a national leader in the deployment and effective use of innovative energy technology solutions. Based on the conclusions and recommendations of the study, the DOER and MassCEC plan to continue working with key industry stakeholders on testing and implementing the study's regulatory and policy recommendations.
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