A national energy storage policy incentive structure can spur job creation in the US. A recently issued ESA report, “Assessment of Jobs Benefits from Storage Legislation,” projects approximately 114,000 incremental jobs could be created by 2020, if investors received the proposed investment tax credit associated with energy storage legislation currently being debated in the US Congress.

The KEMA analysis conducted on behalf of the ESA investigated the incentives from the STORAGE Act of 2009 (S. 1091), which includes a 20 percent energy investment credit for grid-connected energy storage and a 30 percent energy investment credit for onsite energy storage through 2020. The analysis predicted only the number of direct jobs created by the incentive and not the number of jobs created in the supply chain. The report also identified additional benefits of increasing penetration of advanced energy storage including helping to mitigate climate change and acting as a tool for demand response.  

According to ESA executive director, Brad Roberts, “KEMA’s modeling shows that the STORAGE Act accelerates the adoption of the technology and thus creates jobs earlier than if the incentive did not exist. By accelerating the market adoption of advanced energy storage technologies, the energy storage legislation will create jobs and will move us closer to the realization of the smart electricity grid of the future, including full integration of renewable energy, better reliability, and more demand response and emissions control capabilities.”

A summary of the report findings is available at www.kema.com/storage-policy.

The full report is available at the Electricity Storage website for ESA members at www.electricitystorage.org.