UC Davis

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) play a role in addressing the challenges of the current electric grid. BESS will be instrumental for meeting energy storage requirements with the increasing adoption of intermittent energy sources. California is a global leader in the adoption of intermittent renewables on their grid, and has had to devise solutions for meeting the energy storage demands of these energy sources. California has the largest proportion of solar photovoltaic (PV) on the grid of any region of the world. It thus is the first to face the challenges of meeting energy storage needs. This paper analyzes one of California’s steps in meeting this challenge by increasing the adoption of BESS through its Self-Generating Incentive Program (SGIP). The paper studies SGIP beneficiaries’ perceptions, satisfaction, and performance of some of the BESS currently installed for commercial and industrial (C&I) applications. This paper also defines BESS's actual and potential benefits for C&I customers. Results show that most SGIP tickets submitted for C&I installations in the last five years are yet to go live and currently installed BESS aligns with SGIP's goal of reducing electricity bills. In addition, most customers are satisfied with the installation process and the promptness of getting their BESS to serve them. SGIP has been successful for C&I customers because it has reduced the energy bill of the beneficiaries.