Grid operators ordered to allow batteries for energy storage

Fuel Fix:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered electric grid operators around the country to adjust regulations to incorporate electric storage, like batteries, into their systems.

The FERC rule orders grid operators to establish a set of rules that would incorporate batteries into the wholesale electricity market.

The rule, released last month, echoes a decision made by Texas' Public Utility Commission in January to remove barriers to using battery storage on the electric grid and defining how batteries fit into the state's competitive electricity market.


RELATED: Will batteries energize the Texas power grid?

In January, the commission rejected a a 2-year-old proposal from one of the state's largest utilities, AEP Texas, to use two batteries to back up overloaded transmission systems in two small Texas towns - a plan opposed by a merchant power industry likely to a play key role in developing any rules governing the use of batteries.
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At the current cost for batteries, I think this will be a niche product.  Batteries cost about 10 times as much as having natural gas as a backup so I suspect they will be used for areas that are too small for a gas powerplant.

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