SOLVING ENERGY STORAGE PUZZLE KEY TO RENEWABLES FUTURE

California’s continuing efforts to shift to renewable energy will depend to a large degree on solving the challenge of how to store that energy. The Bay Area Council’s Energy Committee under the leadership of PG&E CEO Tony Earley is taking on that challenge and this week hosted an engaging discussion on the various and complex policy, regulatory and market mechanisms that are involved. A major issue involves coming up with the business case for the various energy storage approaches, including lithium-ion batteries, pumped water, thermal storage, flow batteries and flywheel storage, available and how to deploy them in such a way to ensure they are economically feasible and reliable. To engage with our Energy Committee, please contact Senior Vice President Michael Cunningham.

The Bay Area Council Economic Institute currently is drafting a report on energy storage. To contribute to that research, please contact Senior Director Sean Randolph.