At a recent conference attended by various participants in
the power industry, including regulated utilities and independent energy
producers, an astute speaker quipped that “energy storage proponents are
quickly becoming the cool kids in the room.” Everyone chuckled knowingly,
because policy makers in various jurisdictions, especially California, are
driving the power industry to make energy storage happen in a meaningful way.
California’s investor-owned utilities are pumping hundreds
of millions of dollars into innovative energy storage projects in an effort to
satisfy the state’s energy mandate. Although a handful of storage technologies
are getting a big boost from that effort, there is little doubt that roughly 75
percent of the state’s energy storage needs in the coming decades will be met
by pumped storage hydro, the traditional—and still the most economical—storage
solution.
