Last summer, New Jersey ratepayers got a painful reminder that the state’s energy system is under serious strain. Electricity bills jumped 17 to 20 percent in a matter of months — not because of some distant global crisis, but because our grid is struggling to keep pace with growing demand. Data centers are multiplying across the region. Offshore wind projects have stalled. Older power plants have gone offline faster than new ones have come online. The regional electricity market responded the only way markets know how: with higher prices.
The good news is that a real, commercially proven solution exists. It’s called battery energy storage, and it’s already transforming power grids across the country. The question for New Jersey isn’t whether we need it — it’s whether we’re moving fast enough to get it.
This week, the New Jersey Association of Clean and Renewable Energy (NJACRE) published a policy paper examining the state of battery storage in New Jersey, benchmarking where we stand nationally, and laying out what state leaders must do to close the gap. We’re releasing this paper because our members — organized labor, energy companies, utilities, and infrastructure developers — are ready to build. They just need the policy certainty to do so.
The battery storage gap is alarming.
Let me put it plainly: California has deployed roughly 60 gigawatt-hours of battery storage capacity. Texas has more than 26. New Jersey has approximately one. For a state with our population density, our position in one of the largest electricity markets in the world, and a statutory mandate to deploy 2,000 megawatts of storage by 2030, that gap isn’t just a missed opportunity — it’s a warning sign.
New Jersey has made a start — but only a start.
The Garden State Energy Storage Program, launched in June 2025, is a meaningful first step. The Board of Public Utilities approved its first three projects this past March, representing 355 megawatts of new capacity. Governor Sherrill’s early executive orders directing the BPU to accelerate storage development were welcome signals. And the legislature has passed supportive bills.
But a start is not a finish. The GSESP currently covers only half of the state’s 2030 mandate. Permitting timelines remain inconsistent and unpredictable across municipalities. There is no state-level investment tax credit to make New Jersey competitive with the incentive packages available to developers in Texas and California. And the Energy Master Plan — the state’s long-term energy roadmap — still lacks the interim milestones and funding mechanisms that investors need to make long-term commitments.
What we’re asking for.
NJACRE’s policy paper puts forward five priority recommendations:
- Expand the GSESP immediately. The legislature should direct the BPU to launch a new solicitation of at least 500 megawatts before the end of this year — and keep them coming until we hit the 2030 target.
- Create a state battery storage investment tax credit. A 10 to 15 percent credit modeled on the federal program would meaningfully improve New Jersey’s competitiveness for the private capital that is actively deciding right now where to deploy.
- Standardize permitting statewide. A uniform set of siting standards — covering fire safety, setbacks, and community notification — would eliminate the patchwork of local ordinances that currently stalls projects by months or years.
- Update the Energy Master Plan with specific targets. Goals without timelines are just wishes. The next plan update should include five-year deployment milestones and explicit targets for long-duration storage.
- Prioritize solar-plus-storage. New Jersey’s solar incentive programs should reward projects that pair generation with storage, capturing more of the clean energy we’re already producing instead of letting it go to waste.
NJACRE represents the organizations that build and operate these projects, the workers who install them, and the utilities that depend on them. We are unified in saying: New Jersey has everything it needs to be a national leader in battery storage – we just need to make it a priority.
Tim White is the founder and president of the New Jersey Association of Clean and Renewable Energy.
