Assembly Bill (AB) 2514 (Skinner, Chapter 469, Statutes of 2010), amended by Assembly Bill 2227 (Bradford, Chapter 606, Statutes of 2012), was designed to encourage California to incorporate energy storage into the electricity grid, as codified at Public Utilities Code § 2835-2839 and § 9506. Energy storage can provide a multitude of benefits to California, including supporting the integration of greater amounts of renewable energy into the electric grid, deferring the need for new fossil-fueled power plants and transmission and distribution infrastructure, and reducing dependence on fossil fuel generation to meet peak loads.

The Public Utilities Code defines an energy storage system as commercially available technology that is capable of absorbing energy, storing it for a specified period, and then dispatching the energy. An energy storage system may be centralized or distributed and will accomplish one or more of the following:

  • Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
  • Reduce demand for peak electrical generation.
  • Defer or substitute for an investment in generation, transmission, or distribution assets.
  • Improve the reliable operation of the electrical transmission or distribution grid.

In addition, an energy storage system shall do one or more of the following:

  • Use mechanical, chemical, or thermal processes to generate and store energy at one time for use later.
  • Store direct-use thermal energy for heating or cooling later in a manner that avoids the need to use electricity at that later time.
  • Use mechanical, chemical, or thermal processes to store energy generated from renewable resources for use later.
  • Use mechanical, chemical, or thermal processes to store energy generated from mechanical processes delivery and use later.

The Public Utilities Code requires the following for each local publicly owned electric utility (POU): 

  • By March 1, 2012, the governing board of each POU must initiate a process to determine appropriate targets, if any, for the utility to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems by December 31, 2016, and a second target achieved by December 31, 2020.
  • The governing board of each POU must adopt targets, if determined to be appropriate, by October 1, 2014.
  • The governing board of each POU is required to reevaluate its energy storage target determinations not less than every three years.
  • Each POU is required to report to the Energy Commission its energy storage system targets and policies adopted by its governing board and is required to report modifications made to those targets result of any reevaluation undertaken.
  • Each POU is also required to submit reports to the Energy Commission demonstrating that it has complied with the energy storage targets previously adopted. The deadline for the first compliance report was to have been submitted by January 1, 2017. The second report must be submitted by January 1, 2021.

The Energy Commission must include a summary of the reports submitted by the POUs in its Integrated Energy Policy Report. The Energy Commission also ensures that the submitted reports or plans are available on the Energy Commission's website or on a POU website that can be accessed from the Energy Commission's website.

Assembly Bill 2514 also required the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to open a proceeding to determine appropriate targets, if any, for the state's investor-owned utilities to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems and, by October 1, 2013, to adopt an energy storage system procurement target, if determined to be appropriate, to be achieved by each load-serving entity by December 31, 2020. More information on that proceeding can be found on the CPUC's web site.

All reports previously submitted to the Energy Commission that were linked on this page have been transferred to Energy Commission Docket 20-MISC-01. The Docket Log for Docket 20- MISC-01 can be found at: https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/Lists/DocketLog.aspx?docketnumber=20-MISC-01.

All future reports should be submitted to Docket 20-MISC-01 using the Energy Commission’s electronic filing and docket process at: https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/