Courtney Daniel

Energy storage is a game changer. In a recent blog, I noted how the falling costs for batteries, along with the spread of solar power, has the potential to significantly expand the ability of energy storage and distributed energy resources to participate in the nation’s electricity system. GTM Research expects the U.S. energy storage market to grow to roughly 2.6 GW in 2022, almost 12 times the size of the 2016 market. Seventy-one megawatts of energy storage were deployed in the first quarter of 2017, growing 276 percent over Q1 2016.

In May 2017, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, released a daily energy brief noting U.S. nuclear capacity and generation is expected to decline as existing generators retire. Five nuclear plants, with a combined capacity of 5,000 megawatts, or MW, have retired in the past four years, primarily due to competition from low-cost natural gas, unfavorable market policies, and/or local opposition. The Three Mile Island generating station in Pennsylvania is the latest nuclear power plant to announce retirement plans. In addition to these recent retirements, six other plants are scheduled to retire in the next nine years.

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Accord has galvanized climate action at the state and local level. A group of 12 states have formed a coalition, called the United States Climate Alliance, to meet Paris climate commitments and fill the void left by the U.S. government.