Photo by Dennis Schroeder / NREL
Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final injunction to approve the Southern California Edison (SCE) wholesale distribution access tariff proposal. After more than two years of negotiations, SEIA has succeeded in reducing the cost of the stand-alone energy storage wiring compared to SCE’s original proposal, opening the door for significant storage growth in the area.
The first wire load of its kind proposed by SCE would have drastically reduced the economic viability of all storage resources connected at the distribution level and participating in the CAISO market. Thanks to SEIA’s agreement with SCE, resources can come online at short notice as planned.
“After a lengthy two-year negotiation with Southern California Edison (SCE), SEIA and its members were able to achieve a 60% reduction in SCE’s proposed wire costs for stand-alone energy storage, paving the way for more storage and a cleaner, more reliable network in California. Without this agreement, large-scale storage for solar customers would not be feasible in one of the largest utility areas in the country,” Gizelle Wray, director of regulations and advisor for SEIA, said in a statement. “As written, the proposal would have set a dangerous precedent for unnecessary entry fees and had a chilling effect on the implementation of energy storage across the country.
“By securing this reduced fee, we have helped maintain the regulatory intent of FERC orders 841 and 2222, which pave the way for distribution resources to gain fair access to wholesale markets. Solar and storage will add reliability and resilience to the network, and SEIA will continue its work to ensure that utilities do not try to add more unnecessary and heavy fees for market participants to use their cables,” she continued.
News item from SEIA
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