BURLINGTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 8, 2010) - KEMA (www.kema.com) analysis conducted on behalf of the Electricity Storage Association (ESA) shows that job creation can occur from a national energy storage policy incentive structure. The recently issued ESA report, "Assessment of Jobs Benefits from Storage Legislation," projects approximately 114,000 incremental jobs could be created by 2020, if investors received the proposed investment tax credit associated with energy storage legislation currently being debated in the US Congress.
The KEMA analysis investigated the incentives from the STORAGE Act of 2009 (S. 1091), which includes a 20 percent energy investment credit for grid-connected energy storage and a 30 percent energy investment credit for onsite energy storage through 2020. The analysis predicted only the number of direct jobs created by the incentive and not the number of jobs created in the supply chain. The report also identified additional benefits of increasing penetration of advanced energy storage including helping to mitigate climate change and acting as a tool for demand response.
"KEMA's modeling shows that the STORAGE Act accelerates the adoption of the technology and thus creates jobs earlier than if the incentive did not exist," said Brad Roberts, ESA executive director. "By accelerating the market adoption of advanced energy storage technologies, the energy storage legislation will create jobs and will move us closer to the realization of the smart electricity grid of the future, including full integration of renewable energy, better reliability, and more demand response and emissions control capabilities."
A summary of the report findings is available at www.kema.com/storage-policy. KEMA's Rick Fioravanti, Director of Storage Applications & Support, will be discussing the storage job report at the ESA's 20th Annual Meeting May 4 - 7, 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The full report is available at the Electricity Storage website for ESA members, www.electricitystorage.org.
KEMA is actively engaged in helping utilities and network operators enhance transmission and distribution system reliability, security and performance. The firm is globally involved in projects across the energy storage value chain -- ranging from technology development and evaluation to the advancement of visionary large-scale storage applications. In the US, KEMA released the first independent guidebook on integrating wide-scale energy storage in the electric power infrastructure, and has testified and provided briefings on grid-scale energy storage and related policy issues to the US Congress.
About KEMA
Founded in 1927, KEMA is a global provider of business and technical consulting, operational support, measurement and inspection, testing and certification for the energy and utility industry. With world headquarters in Arnhem, the Netherlands, KEMA employs more than 1,600 professionals globally with offices and representatives in more than 20 countries. KEMA's US subsidiary, KEMA, Inc., is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts and serves energy clients throughout the Americas and Caribbean.
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