The Electricity Storage Association is a trade association established to foster development and commercialization of energy storage technologies. Our mission is "to promote the development and commercialization of competitive and reliable energy storage delivery systems for use by electricity suppliers and their customers."
The ESA members represent
- Electric utilities, ESCOs, IPPs
- Technology developers involved with advanced batteries, flywheels, SMES, and component suppliers, such as power conversion systems
- Researchers committed to advancing the state of the art in energy storage solutions
ESA Goals:
- Promote the commercial application of energy storage technologies as solutions to power and energy problems.
- Coordinate and attract international interest and involvement in energy storage.
- Provide a forum for technical and commercial information exchange between suppliers, customers, and researchers.
The organization grew out of a need to provide an information exchange forum for battery energy storage following completion of the Electric Power Research Institute's Chino Battery Storage Project review group in 1991. The Utility Battery Group (UBG) was established by more than 30 utilities including eight (8) founding members:
- Duke Power Company
- Florida Power & Light
- Northern States Power
- Pacific Gas & Electric
- Public Service Electric & Gas Company
- San Diego Gas & Electric
- Southern California Edison
In May 1996, the group's Board of Directors moved to broaden the charter to encompass all energy storage technologies in recognition of the interest to provide technological solutions to its constituents rather than championing a single technology. The Board also voted to incorporate as a 501(c)(6) trade association, changed the name to the Energy Storage Association, and adopted a proactive agenda of educational and commercialization activities in pursuit of its goals. In April 2001, the membership voted to change the name of the organization to the Electricity Storage Association, to counteract the widespread but mistaken belief that electricity cannot be stored.
