US renewable energy trade bodies have pledged to work together to ensure clean power supported by energy storage delivers over half of the country’s electricity in the next decade.
The pledge was made this week by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), National Hydropower Association (NHA), and Energy Storage Association (ESA) at the Cleanpower conference.
AWEA chief executive Tom Kiernan said the collaborative promise sets the stage to deliver on the American electric grid of the future powered by wind, solar, hydropower and storage.
He said: “Market opportunities for projects that include a mix of technologies have opened up that didn’t exist even a few years ago. And demand is growing for integrated renewable energy options.”
ESA CEO Kelly Speakes-Backman said: “A majority of generation supplied by renewable energy represents a significant change in the way we operate the grid, and the storage industry is a fundamental asset to provide the flexibility that a more modern, decarbonized grid will require.
“We look forward to actively collaborating with our colleagues to make this vision a reality by 2030.”
NHA CEO Malcolm Woolf said: “By adding new generation onto existing non-powered dams and developing 15GW of new pumped storage hydropower capacity, we can help accelerate the development of a clean energy electricity grid.”