Despite a bill to create a rebate programme for energy storage systems purchased in California being dropped from a recent round of legislative decision-making, the state’s industry still has a “bright future”, commentators have said.

An analyst at Navigant Research has said he was surprised to see Tesla dominate California’s SGIP (Self-Generation Incentive Program) applications, with the Silicon Valley car and tech company accounting for half of all requested funds.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has reformed the Self-Generation Incentive Programme (SGIP) that finances the installation of distributed generation technologies, to now benefit long-duration technologies that previously missed out on the incentive, through the extended US$83 million a year for behind-the-meter storage.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a decision that reforms its Self-Generation Incentive Programme (SGIP) to provide US$83 million a year until 2019 for behind-the-meter technologies, not least, energy storage.

California governor, Jerry Brown, is expected imminently to sign off new legislation extending a funding programme said to be a vital lifeline for the state’s nascent energy storage sector.