The Massachusetts Clean Peak Standard – How it will affect renewable and storage value streams, projects, and markets

Massachusetts is launching the nation’s first Clean Peak Energy Standard (CPS), an ambitious, complex program that aims to reduce peak electric demand, cut emissions, and lower ratepayer costs. Similar to renewable portfolio standards, the new program will provide clean peak energy certificates to eligible renewable, energy storage, and demand reduction resources that can generate electricity or reduce load during peak demand hours. Electric utilities will be required to meet a certain percentage of annual retail electricity sales with clean peak certificates.

This webinar featured speakers from Customized Energy Solutions and Sustainable Energy Advantage, who assisted the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) in designing the Clean Peak Standard. They shared their unique expertise regarding program design choices and what they could mean for energy markets in Massachusetts. The presenters helped fill in the gaps left by the current regulations, including how this new program impacts other value streams and how it might benefit specific eligible resources (renewable generation and storage), and shared their view on the wider appeal of clean peak standards as a mechanism for driving environmental, societal, and economics benefits.

Presenters:
• Mike Berlinski, Director – Emerging Technology, Customized Energy Solutions
• Nehal Divekar, Manager – Future Grids, Customized Energy Solutions
• Jim Kennerly, Senior Consultant, Sustainable Energy Advantage
• Todd Olinsky-Paul, Senior Project Director, Clean Energy States Alliance (moderator)

This webinar was a presentation of the Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership (ESTAP). ESTAP is a federal-state funding and information sharing project that aims to accelerate the deployment of electrical energy storage technologies in the U.S. ESTAP is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity, managed by Sandia National Laboratories, and administered by the Clean Energy States Alliance.