California Senate Green-Lights Key Energy Storage Bill Posted by Betsy Lillian

Today, the California Senate passed S.B.700, a bill that could result in nearly 3 GW of behind-the-meter energy storage systems at schools, farms, homes, nonprofits and businesses in California by 2026, according to the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA).

The bill was passed today with a preliminary 25-13 vote and passed on Wednesday by the Assembly with a final vote of 57-18. It now heads to the governor’s desk for his consideration, says CALSSA.

The resulting program established by the bill would be on par with the highly successful program California set in motion with the Million Solar Roofs Initiative back in 2006, the association notes.

“We are making the sun shine at night!” states Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of CALSSA, which has championed S.B.700 for the past two years. ”S.B.700 will do for storage what S.B.1 did for solar over a decade ago: namely, create a mainstream market by driving up demand and driving down costs all while creating jobs and clean energy choices for consumers.”

According to CALSSA, S.B.700 would achieve these goals by re-authorizing the Self-Generation Incentive Program for an additional five years, extending rebates for consumers through 2025. It would add up to $800 million for storage and other emerging clean energy technologies, resulting in a total investment of $1.2 billion for customer-sited energy storage. Boosting energy storage will help California achieve a goal of generating 100% of its electricity from renewable resources, as called for in S.B.100, which was passed by the California Assembly this week.

“If we are going to get to 100 percent clean energy, we need to be using solar power every hour of the day, not just when the sun is shining,” says State Sen. Scott Wiener, author of S.B.700. “This bill will protect clean energy jobs while also protecting consumers from ever-rising energy bills.”