Focus should be on battery storage

Recently, the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, DEEP, reported that Connecticut is falling short of meeting its required 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements. In the interest of Connecticut’s environment and furthering its clean energy economy, RENEW Northeast urges Connecticut state lawmakers and mayors to use this opportunity to call on DEEP to host a technical conference to explore a potential game changer for reducing emissions: energy storage.

Proven to be among the least cost of new energy resource technologies, energy storage can provide substantial reliability benefits in dense population centers with a relatively small footprint. Communities such as Bridgeport, Hartford, Montville, New Haven and Waterbury have for decades hosted New England’s dirtiest fossil fuel-powered generating plants. DEEP can ease the burden for these communities while maximizing the effectiveness of renewable power resources by crafting a proposal to acquire energy storage capacity that displaces these peak demand generators, many of which are over 40 years old.

Connecticut currently hosts 60 percent of the fossil fueled power plants needed to meet New England’s peak demands, despite having only 24 percent of the region’s electricity consumption.

Adding significant battery energy storage to the power grid will provide significant cost, reliability, and environmental benefits to Connecticut citizens. Earlier this year, the Connecticut legislature passed a law to ensure deployment of 1,000 megawatts of energy storage capacity by the end of 2030, enough to power one million homes. All that remains is for DEEP to issue a solicitation for these resources. The agency should do so this year.

Francis Pullaro Executive Director, RENEW Northeast

Madison