The Senate approved legislation Tuesday that would require the state to build more energy storage systems as Rhode Island moves toward renewable forms of energy.
The Energy Storage Systems Act would require the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the Office of Energy Resources to develop and fund programs to meet benchmarks for energy storage capacity for the state’s power grid.
The legislation would also require the Public Utilities Commission to adopt a framework for tariffs on the cost of energy storage systems connected to the grid by Sept. 1, 2024, and to conduct a market survey of storage technologies every three years.
“Rhode Island is a leader in our commitment to ending our reliance on polluting carbon-emitting energy. Keeping that commitment means we need to innovate and we need to do it at speed,” said Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, the chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Moving to renewable electricity means we are going to need the structures — both physical and regulatory — to store energy. This bill sets concrete goals and action plans to build a resilient grid that can accommodate the green energy transition that is happening now,” said Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, the chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The legislation now moves to the House for consideration.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
