Can Reforms Shift California Program from Controversy to Energy Storage Incentive Model?

Renewable Energy World: The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently proposed a few changes to California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) that may begin to reshape the program into a national model for incentivizing energy storage deployment.

Anyone involved in behind-the-meter energy storage project development in California is likely to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with SGIP. The program began back in 2001 when Assembly Bill 970 (Ducheny, 2000) directed the CPUC to offer financial incentives for utility customers to install on-site distributed energy technologies that reduced grid electricity consumption. In 2011, California Senate Bill 412 modified the primary purpose of SGIP from peak load reduction to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, leading to CPUC modification of the criteria determining technology eligibility. Energy storage appeared on the SGIP scene in 2012 with two projects. Since then, SGIP has been a boon to the behind-the-meter energy storage market, helping California become a national leader in customer-sited storage resources. SGIP has a total annual budget of about $80 million per year and is expected to continue through 2019.

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