Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Over the last several months, the Baker administration has announced a number of initiatives to make Massachusetts a leader in energy storage, considered a critical component in modernizing the electric grid.
In April, the administration named Judith Judson, a nationally recognized energy storage expert, as commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources. Judson was previously the director of emerging technologies at Custom Energy Solutions.
In May, the administration announced a $10 million Energy Storage Initiative to complement the $40 million Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative, which uses clean energy technology to protect communities from service interruptions due to weather.
In September, the town of Sterling voted to allow the Sterling Municipal Light Department to administer a Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative grant to fund the design, construction and maintenance of a 1-megawatt solar storage facility that will support the Sterling Police communications facility.
Energy storage has the potential to accommodate fluctuations in renewable energy production and meet peak load demands more efficiently. The objective is to optimize demand response, reduce both system costs and customer costs, reduce power outages, and integrate renewables into the grid.
When traditional energy sources are interrupted due to severe weather or other factors, energy storage can allow municipal facilities such as public safety, senior centers and schools to be powered with electricity from a nearby solar facility and distributed generation.
Almost all Massachusetts communities host at least one solar facility. The state could soon be a leader in grid reliability by using new energy storage technology along with renewable power.
Energy storage facilities could also help to alleviate the need for expensive new generating plants. In the past, Massachusetts has increased electric generation capacity to meet peak demand, but large-scale energy storage could alleviate the need for new power plants.