Energy and environmental stakeholders are uniting around "community storage" to help solve the electric industry's energy storage challenge. The Community Storage Initiative today announced the support of key industry groups, including the nation's utility trade associations, environmental groups, manufacturers and more than a dozen individual utilities.
Community storage refers to a spectrum of utility-sponsored programs that aggregate electric storage resources available throughout the community, such as water heaters and electric vehicles, to improve the efficiency of electric energy services for consumers. Community storage programs offer the industry practical steps to rapidly increase the amount of energy storage available, and also integrate more renewable resources.
Initiative members are already implementing community storage programs; through the Initiative, they will be working together to evolve those programs.
Like community solar, community storage enables consumers and utilities to share the system-wide benefits of energy storage – environmental benefits, lower costs and grid optimization – in communities large and small across the country. Such programs maximize the value of distributed energy resources, many of which are already available to participate in energy storage programs through simple retrofits and program design.
The Initiative’s charter sponsors include the following: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), American Public Power Association (APPA), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA). The Initiative will be chaired by Gary Connett, Director of Member Services at Great River Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative based in Maple Grove, Minn.
The Initiative’s supporters include a wide array of energy, environmental and business interests: Trade associations: American Public Power Association, Edison Electric Institute, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Peak Load Management Alliance.
Environmental and efficiency advocacy groups: Natural Resources Defense Council, Rocky Mountain Institute, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. Manufacturers: GARN, Ice Energy, Power Over Time, Steffes Corporation, Vaughn Thermal Corporation and Sunnovations Inc.
Individual utilities: Central Electric Cooperative of Pennsylvania, Dairyland Power Cooperative, Duke Energy, Federated Rural Electric, Great River Energy, Green Mountain Power, Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc., Itasca-Mantrap Electric Cooperative, Jackson EMC, Marquette Board of Light and Power, McLeod Cooperative Power Association, Minnesota Rural Electric Association, North Itasca Electric Cooperative Inc., Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Oconto Electric Cooperative, Palmetto Electric Cooperative, South Central Electric Association, and Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric, South Central Electric Association and Wellesley Municipal Light Plant.
A list of supporters and brief descriptions of their community storage efforts is available on the Initiative’s website. Initiative members are conducting a range of innovative community storage programs, including grid-interactive water heating, electric vehicle charging, grid-interactive space heating, ice storage technology, and residential battery storage.
