Pennsylvania Commission Issues Guidelines to Use Energy Storage for Grid Reliability

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission on April 4 voted to adopt a policy statement establishing guidelines for the use of electricity storage by distribution companies. The policy paves the way for future use of non-wires solutions that improve reliability and resilience of the grid. Electric distribution companies can now use storage technologies or batteries instead of or in addition to traditional solutions to maintain or improve distribution system performance.

The commission recognizes that electricity storage assets can be used by utilities to maintain or to increase the reliability or the resilience of the electric distribution system. To this end, the commission encourages the consideration of these assets when reasonable and prudent, specifically as an alternative non-wires solution. The commission encourages utilities to consider electricity-storage assets in their system planning.

The policy statement defines non-wires solution as an investment or operating practice in order to: enhance reliability, resilience, or service; reduce congestion or system constraints; or defer or replace the need for certain transmission or distribution projects at a lower resource cost by effectively managing transmission congestion or distribution system constraints during peak demand periods in specific grid areas.

As renewables continue to grow in the move towards a low-carbon future, energy storage is critical to mitigate the variability of wind and solar resources and enhance reliability and resiliency of the electric grid. Federal and state actions continue to facilitate the adoption of storage as a key solution in this transition. U.S. utility-scale battery storage capacity is expected to increase from 1.5 gigawatts in 2020 to 30 gigawatts in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.