The U.S. Energy Storage Association has praised the American Jobs Plan the White House released this week for including policies that would accelerate adoption and deployment of energy storage.
“To build back better, the United States must deploy energy storage at an unprecedented scale. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan would put us on that path. From factory to grid to frontline communities, it has the policies needed to achieve our goal of 100 GW of new energy storage by 2030 to decarbonize our power system, make our infrastructure resilient and put Americans in every state to work in a globally competitive industry,” U.S. Energy Storage Association Interim CEO Jason Burwen said.
“ESA commends the White House for prioritizing energy storage and policies that support the industry’s growth in the American Jobs Plan. Chief among those priorities is the investment tax credit (ITC) for energy storage, which will level the playing field with other clean energy technologies and accelerate storage deployments to the pace required to meet the president’s goal of a carbon-free electric system by 2035”, (Read the full statement here).
The plan calls for:
- Making storage eligible for the ITC presently available for other clean energy technologies;
- Promoting domestic battery manufacturing through a revived 48C manufacturing tax credit and targeted grants;
- Leveraging federal clean energy procurement to drive 24/7 clean power enabled by energy storage;
- Elevating innovation investments in a diversity of energy storage technologies; and
- Targeting investments in resilience, including storage, to communities most vulnerable physically and financially to climate-driven disasters.
Earlier this year, ESA urged the administration to build back better by promoting domestic energy storage finance and supply chains, promoting equitable electric system resilience, and establishing market designs that value and compensate grid flexibility. President Biden’s plan would implement a large number of ESA’s recommendations.
Last week more than 150 organizations sent a letter to U.S. House and Senate leaders requesting they include bipartisan legislation that would make standalone storage projects eligible for the ITC in the upcoming infrastructure bill. The letter was signed by a diverse group of industry trade organizations, environmental advocacy groups, and small businesses across the United States.
In March, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) introduced the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act (S. 627 / H.R. 1684) to remove limits on applying the tax credit to storage technologies only when integrated with ITC-eligible solar projects. This legislation is mirrored in the recently introduced GREEN Act (H.R. 848), which includes the option for a direct payment of the ITC in addition to making storage technologies eligible for it.
As outlined in ESA’s 2030 Vision, at least 100 GW of new energy storage is needed to drive the clean energy transition and transform the electric system to handle 21st century demands. The United States has deployed over 3 GW of battery and other advanced energy storage to date.
About The U.S. Energy Storage Association
The U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA) is the national trade association dedicated to energy storage, working toward a more resilient, efficient, sustainable and affordable electricity grid – as is uniquely enabled by energy storage. With more than 200 members, ESA represents a diverse group of companies, including independent power producers, electric utilities, energy service companies, financiers, insurers, law firms, installers, manufacturers, component suppliers and integrators involved in deploying energy storage systems around the globe.
