The emerging energy storage industry is charging up across the country, and North Carolina can continue advancing its clean energy leadership by identifying opportunities to develop its storage sector, according to a new report from the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, a leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to shaping the state's clean and efficient energy future.

The analysis, which recognizes storage's ability to improve the efficiency of the grid and to smooth intermittent generation by renewable resources, recommends North Carolina begin preparing its legal and regulatory framework to allow both utilities and consumers to begin installing batteries. Batteries Included: Identifying and Approaching Barriers to Batteries on the Grid examines barriers facing, and approaches available for advancing, storage in North Carolina, which is home to a $4.8 billion clean energy industry.

The report comes on the heels of the announcement that NC became the fourth state in the nation to reach one gigawatt of installed solar capacity. North Carolina boasts one of the most robust solar markets in the nation, and under the state's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, reliance on renewable energy will increase in coming years.

Solar, the fastest-growing renewable energy resource in North Carolina, is an intermittent resource, but when paired with batteries its generation profile can be smoothed. According to the analysis, North Carolina has taken some important steps to advance storage in the state, but key opportunities remain.

North Carolina is a prime location for the storage industry, which is expected to reach $20 billion in revenues by 2020. To grow the industry in North Carolina, the report suggests steps to improve the state's current regulatory and policy landscape, based on an in-depth analysis that applies methods of addressing nationally-observed barriers to North Carolina's landscape.

"North Carolina has a rich history of taking the lead on clean energy advancements," said Peter Ledford, report author and Regulatory Counsel for NCSEA. "We were the first state to have utility-scale batteries when they were first installed in the 1980s; we were the first state in the Southeast to have one gigawatt of solar; and we will be the first state in the Southeast to have a utility-scale wind farm."

While battery storage will not solve every issue facing our electric grid, Ledford notes they are a tool that should and, as costs continue to decline, increasingly will be used in advancing North Carolina's clean energy economy: "NCSEA is taking a leadership role with storage because technology advancements and price decreases mean storage will be deployed sooner rather than later. Taking the initial steps recommended in this analysis will help North Carolina maintain its leadership position as the clean energy hub of the Southeast."

Because collaboration will be a formative driver of the success of storage in North Carolina, the report recommends convening a working group of interested stakeholders that will develop an action plan for the state. Other recommendations include regulatory actions that can spur a market for storage to provide ancillary services, and creating new rate tariffs to enable use of batteries among residential customers.

The discussion will continue at the organization's annual conference, with storage taking center stage next week at NCSEA's upcoming Making Energy Work: Power Forward event in Raleigh, NC, October 6-7. Featured on this year's agenda is a powerful keynote address from Matt Roberts, Executive Director of the Energy Storage Association, on "Writing NC's Storage Success Story".

His message will focus on how storage will become a prominent part of how customers consume electricity, as well as how utilities can use storage to integrate renewable energy resources.

In addition, the "Batteries: On the Move and Standing Still" panel, featuring representatives from Alevo, the Rocky Mountain Institute and Duke Energy Renewables, will discuss the different technologies and systems, as well as the policies and regulations applicable to the fast emerging use of batteries big and small, stationary and mobile.