Grid-scale energy storage could help avoid such outages.  Moreover, the transition to greater reliance upon renewable energy resources to combat climate change amplifies the need for grid-scale storage.  While some renewable energy resources have consistent output, like geothermal or hydroelectric, other sources, like wind and solar power, generate intermittently.

Biden's AJP proposes to promote energy storage by making standalone storage projects eligible for the federal investment tax credit.  As it currently stands, energy storage only receives tax credits if it is integrated with renewable generation sources that are already eligible for the tax credit.Additionally, the AJP includes utility-scale energy storage in a list of investments eligible for fifteen billion dollars of support.

The AJP's investments in energy storage as a vehicle for job creation align with the Administration's recent announcement of its intention to develop a "10-year, whole-of-government plan to urgently develop a domestic lithium battery supply chain that combats the climate crisis by creating good-paying clean energy jobs across America."  That plan, like the AJP, is intended to reduce the U.S.'s reliance upon China for the vast majority of the world's lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing and raw material refining.

Storage Investment Tax Credit        

Despite being essential to the scalable adoption of clean renewable energy sources, energy storage on a standalone basis does not at this time qualify for a federal investment tax credit .hrefs/blogs/Investing-Energy-service-service-business-ace-a/a/a/on the way, the falling water passes through a turbine and produces electricity that it supplied to the grid.  But the physical land and water demands of a pumped hydro project make it an option that is not universally available.

Other more advanced forms of long-duration energy storage involve cooling ambient air to supercritical temperatures when electricity is in surplus or cheaper, storing it in low-pressure vessels, and then allowing the rapid expansion of the gas to drive a turbine and create electricity without combustion at times when energy demand increases.  These more advanced options can provide a 50 megawatt (MW) facility, with five to eight hours of storage on an acre of land.

Green hydrogen also holds promise as a means of storing intermittent renewable energy, as we described in a prior post in this series.

But, by far, the most common form of energy storage being deployed today is through lithium-ion batteries.举个例子,Tesla目前正在加利福尼亚州前化石生成设施网站委托使用 < ahrfss/arielcohen/2020/08/13/tefs-bgins建设-worldstWoodMackenzie和美国能源存储协会2千多兆瓦新能源存储系统s//s/swoodmac.com/research/products/power-and-reservers/us-energy-serve-monitor/This is an increase of 182% from the previous quarter, and marked a new record quarter for U.S.storage.

The President's proposed tax credit could assist in encouraging that growth.  The solar energy industry has cited the tax credit as one of the most critical mechanisms supporting its meteoric growth of approximately 10,000% since 2006.

More than 150 groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, NRDC, Solar Energy Industries Association, American Clean Power Association, signed on to letters to House and Senate leadership, urging the legislature to make energy storage technologies eligible for these tax credits.  Specifically, they argued that such a reform would allow energy storage to compete with other green technologies.

Clean energy industry leaders stand behind the policy.  According to Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), "[a] federal tax credit for energy storage would have a transformative impact, promoting private sector investment and helping monetize the value of energy storage technology."  The energy tax credit also enjoys bipartisan support.

Additional Funding for Utility-Scale Energy Storage

One of the major goals of the AJP is to establish the United States as a leader in climate science, innovation and R&D.  Specifically, the AJP would invest $15 billion in demonstration projects for climate R&D priorities, including utility-scale energy storage, among a number of other technologies.  So, in addition to the extension of eligibility for the investment tax credit, the AJP could provide financial assistance to utility-scale energy storage projects at the cutting edge.

A Secure Domestic Supply Chain for Energy Storage

Despite the paucity of federal support available to-date, cost effective energy storage has been described as the "holy grail" that could unlock possibilities for the deployment of intermittent renewables at the scale needed to achieve the President's target of a zero-carbon electricity sector by 2035.  The AJP's and Congress's plans to reward storage with tax benefits would be an important first step in mobilizing the private capital needed to realize storage's potential.

Additionally, as a result of the Administration's assessment of critical supply chains, which was conducted pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14017, the Administration, just last week, announced an even broader effort to secure a domestic supply chain for high-capacity batteries.

The recommendations resulting from the Administration's supply chain assessment include the following (among others):

• Developing a National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries – a 10-year plan to onshore the entire supply chain for batteries, from the critical minerals that go into them, to recycling at their end-of-life;
• Investing in development of next-generation batteries that will reduce critical mineral requirements for grid storage!并
• Launching支持联邦机构通过能源部联邦能源管理程序部署能源项目。

离散能源链创举反映了政府的观点,即投资清洁能源技术不仅对解决气候变化问题是必要的,而且对确保美国21世纪全球领导权也是必要的。