Dive Brief:
- The General Services Administration, an independent agency which helps manage the U.S. government, is preparing an energy storage request for information that could be the first step in bring more efficient energy use and load management to more than 10,000 buildings under its control.
- GSA is looking to start by studying storage's potential in a few "test case" buildings, Chief Sustainability Officer Kevin Kampschroer told Greentech Media, before potentially deploying more widely in its property portfolio.
- The federal government is increasingly dipping into smart energy solutions and funding of clean energy; the U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year unveiled $18 million in funding for six new projects that will incorporate solar power and energy storage.
Dive Insight:
GSA is preparing to issue an RFI in mid-September for storage systems that will likely begin with small pilot projects but which could involve larger endeavors if the energy industry can make a strong business case.
“We don’t pretend to be the world’s experts in energy storage, and so we’re reaching out to the industry and saying it’s wide open,” Kampschroer told Greentech. “We’ll make it very practical, too: Here [are] a few buildings. Why don’t we use that as a test case, and you make some proposals that are grounded in the reality that we provide you with?”
While a slow ramp-up of energy storage in government buildings would be likely, the potential is huge because of the feds' huge fleet of work spaces. GTM's research arm figures 33 non-residential, behind-the-meter storage projects have gone online so far this year— equivalent to about a third of 1% of the GSA stock.
Commercial and industrial energy users are expected to be a major growth area for the sector. According to Navigant Consulting the market for C&I storage will reach $10.8 billion by 2025, with the most significant opportunities will be in the industrial building segment, followed by office buildings and educational facilities.
In the industrial segment alone, the firm anticipates there will be 9.3 GW of storage capacity deployed in the next 10 years.
The rollout of energy storage systems into U.S. buildings is still nascent, and Navigant's report outlined a bevy of challenges faced, including poor understanding and undervaluation.
"However, regulatory reforms and technological advances are expected to help bring C&I energy storage into the mainstream," the report concluded.
