How to Ensure Energy Storage Policies Are Equitable

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that energy storage can provide direct public health, economic, and resilience benefits to underserved communities if policymakers intentionally design targets, incentives, and utility planning processes to prioritize equity. The brief highlights the potential for storage to replace polluting 'peaker' plants, reduce demand charges for low-income residents, and maintain critical services during disasters, while warning that these outcomes require explicit policy mandates and stakeholder engagement.

• Energy storage can improve public health in disadvantaged communities by replacing inefficient 'peaker' plants, which are often sited in these areas and emit pollutants that harm local air quality.
• Battery storage can reduce operating costs for community-serving facilities and affordable housing by lowering expensive demand charges, which are fees based on peak usage.
• Storage enhances community resilience by providing backup power to essential services like hospitals and emergency shelters during disasters, reducing reliance on diesel generators.
• Current state-level storage procurement targets often lack equity considerations; the brief suggests using carve-outs or set-asides to ensure a portion of targets benefits underserved communities.
• Tax credits, such as the federal investment tax credit (ITC), may exclude low-income households and nonprofits unless they are made refundable, as these entities often have limited tax liability.
• Utility integrated resource plans (IRPs) in 25 states generally do not require regulators to address equity, necessitating new legislation to force the evaluation of storage as a replacement for fossil fuel plants in specific communities.
• California and New York have established broad clean energy policies with equity goals, though implementation challenges remain, such as California's SGIP Equity Budget remaining largely untouched due to difficult application processes.
• The sustainability of battery storage, particularly the human cost of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a significant concern that requires the development of recycling processes and responsible sourcing.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2019). How to Ensure Energy Storage Policies Are Equitable. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/Ensure-Energy-Storage-Policies-Equitable-Brief.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. How to Ensure Energy Storage Policies Are Equitable. 2019. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/Ensure-Energy-Storage-Policies-Equitable-Brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=How to Ensure Energy Storage Policies Are Equitable |date=November 2019 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/Ensure-Energy-Storage-Policies-Equitable-Brief.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2019how, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{How to Ensure Energy Storage Policies Are Equitable}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/Ensure-Energy-Storage-Policies-Equitable-Brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }