POWER September 2023 - S14

EMPOWERING CLEAN ENERGY
ENERGY STORAGE
New Rules, Incentives Shaping Solar-PlusStorage
Market
A
n evolving regulatory environment,
expanded tax credits, and
moves for more reliability and
resilience in the power space are impacting
the growth of solar-plus-storage
installations.
Several state utility commissions in
recent years have reduced the export
rate for net energy metering (NEM),
meaning consumers utilizing solar
power are seeing less value for the
solar energy they would return to the
power grid. These measures, such as
one recently passed in California and
taking effect in April, have sparked
plenty of debate in the solar power
community. Detractors say it makes
residential solar less attractive, taking
away a financial incentive for installation.
Proponents say it incentivizes the
use of energy storage attached to solar
power, and over time will prove advantageous
for more solar power adoption.
Critics of plans to reduce export
rates say such moves benefit utilities
at the expense of homeowners, and are
likely to slow growth in residential solar
by making rooftop arrays more expensive.
Others see the measures as a way
to jump-start the nascent residential
solar-plus-storage market, providing
opportunities for solar installers to
pair systems with batteries, reducing
costs over time. Most everyone agrees,
though, that tax credits and other features
in the Inflation Reduction Act
(IRA) signed by President Biden last
year provide important support for
both the solar and storage industries.
Supporters of energy storage point
to benefits already being recognized as
solar developers and utilities add batteries
to large, utility-scale solar arrays,
to provide more resilience and help balance
the grid. The next step, according
to many in the industry, is growing residential
storage, which will provide other
benefits including supporting growth in
electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
Germany provides an example.
Changes to NEM rules there a decade
ago set off consistent growth in solar
paired with storage, which recently has
experienced even faster growth. EUPD
Research, a Germany-based international
data-based market research and
consulting group, in a recent report
said about 220,000 new residential
storage systems were connected to
rooftop solar in Germany in 2023.
" Consumers around the world are
seeking residential solar solutions that
provide energy independence and security
in the face of rising electricity
prices and massive grid disruptions
driven by extreme weather, " said Raghu
Belur, co-founder and Chief Products
Officer for Enphase Energy, a California-based
energy technology company.
" In fact, residential solar deployments
are forecast to grow over 35% in the
next four years while residential battery
storage is expected to grow over
three-fold by 2026, according to recent
reports by Wood Mackenzie and SEIA
[the Solar Energy Industries Association],
and ESA [the Energy Storage Association],
respectively. "
Belur told POWER,
" Solar-plus-battery
storage technology is well-positioned
to adapt to an increasingly
electrified future by seamlessly integrating
with EVs, heat pumps, and other
connected home appliances, making
it easier than ever for consumers to
manage their household energy bills
and take control of their own energy
future. "
" The trend of rising energy costs
and a need for greater energy resilience
in the face of increasingly frequent
grid outages and emergency
shut-offs has driven surging interest
in behind-the-meter PV-plus-storage
systems, especially in Europe, " said
Levent Gun, CEO of Ampt, a solar and
storage company working to lower
costs and increase optimization of PV
systems. " Among the numerous factors
driving the growth of solar-plus-stor14
Supplement to POWER & RE+ 2023
age in the U.S. and around the world
are improving economics, policy support,
and the simple fact that a renewables-dominated
grid requires
abundant storage to remain stabilized
and resilient. "
Integrating Renewable
Energy
Other experts who spoke with POWER
agreed with Gun that upgrades to
power delivery infrastructure need to
include energy storage, particularly
when it comes to integrating solar and
other renewable energy to the grid.
" Storage is absolutely critical to the
advancement and modernization of
the grid. Renewable projects simply
cannot support the grid in a meaningful
way without storage, " said Julie
Steury, vice president of Programs &
Customer Ops with Stem, a California-based
group using artificial intelligence
to help manage energy assets.
" Increased energy demands, unstable
energy sources and costs, and unreliable
access from increasing weather
incidents happen outside of solar
generation. Intelligent storage and renewable
asset management with advanced
software solutions will enable
businesses and utilities to effectively
capture that clean energy, store it
properly, and know when to discharge
that energy for the best results. "
Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, a California-based
provider of solar and
storage products, told POWER: " The
overall duration of power interruptions
1. This is a rendering of the 690-MW Gemini solar
and storage project being built near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Courtesy: IHI Terrasun Solutions
POWER September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER September 2023
