Congress Debates Ways to Boost Development of Grid-Scale Energy Storage as Favourable Bills Pile Up

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will examine opportunities to boost the deployment of grid-scale energy storage, according to the committee’s calendar.

• The discussion will include remarks from Andrew Ott, the outgoing CEO and President of PJM Interconnection LLC., Ben Fowke, Chairman of the Board, President & Chief Executive Officer of Xcel Energy Inc., Mitch Davidson, CEO of Brookfield Renewable, George Crabtree, Director of the Argonne National Laboratory’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research and Kiran Kumaraswamy, VP at Fluence Corp.
• Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican and Chairman of the commission and Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat and Ranking Member, will head the discussion and provide opening remarks.
• Bipartisan bills on the technology have been piling up in Congress including storage tax credit and millions in funding for research and development.
• Rep. Michael Doyle, a Democrat representing Pennsylvania, introduced legislation on April 4 that would expand the solar investment tax credit to include energy storage technology for utilities, businesses, and homes. The current tax code provides the credit for battery technologies paired with a solar installations. (H.R.2096)