Collins’ measure passes committee as foundation for energy storage package

The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Sept. 25 advanced a sweeping energy storage package to the full Senate that was reported as an amendment to bipartisan legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

“I am pleased this bill has been incorporated into a comprehensive energy storage package, and I encourage all of our colleagues to support this bipartisan piece of legislation,” Sen. Collins said last week.

The committee chose to use Sen. Collins’ bill, the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act, S. 1602, as the foundation of the package to reflect her leadership on energy storage and clean energy technologies, according to the lawmaker’s office. The bipartisan BEST Act was cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), among others.

“The BEST Act will help advance energy storage technologies to improve the efficiency of our nation’s electricity grid and help align research efforts on energy storage,” said the senator.

The bill addresses grid-scale energy storage systems; would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish a research, development, and demonstration program for grid-scale energy storage systems within its Office of Electricity; and would require that DOE enter into agreements to carry out not more than five demonstration projects and develop a 10-year strategic plan and cost targets for grid-scale energy storage systems, according to the congressional record.

The Senate committee-approved package now includes several additional provisions from 20 other separately proposed bills, including the creation of a joint program between DOE and the U.S. Department of Defense to demonstrate long-duration storage technologies; and the establishment of a program at DOE to assist electric utilities with identifying, evaluating, planning, designing, and developing processes to procure energy storage systems, among others.

“Energy storage technology holds such great promise in the fight against climate change,” Sen. Collins said. “Supporting current technology and advancing next-generation energy storage will allow us to integrate more renewables, such as wind and solar, which in turn will help to reduce emissions.”