Energy Storage Assn: Renewable tax breaks not optimal, but necessary
The Energy Storage Association isn’t really in favor or subsidies and mandates, says Executive Director Roberts, but until the country can properly value green energy then they will remain necessary to put the technologies on even footing.
“We’re not proponents of mandates, we’re proponents of market reform, but to some extent if the market’s not ready, then maybe different mechanisms need to be used,” Roberts told PV Tech. “I’ll be the first to say, if it has to be subsidised and have all these things enforced upon the industry, then it’s not correct.”
That said, Roberts called Oregon’s new storage initiative — a smaller take on California’s 1.3 GW mandate — a positive step. The state has directed each of its three investor-owned utilities to procure 5 MW of energy storage by 2020, the same time frame faced in California. And in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker this summer launched a $10 million storage program aimed at making the state a “national leader in energy storage.”
