Building-size energy storage is worth considering for government funding, but the California Public Utilities Commission’s rules don’t clearly define or distinguish “emerging” or “mature” storage technologies. While commission president Mike Peevey originally intended to deny the California Energy Storage Alliance’s petition to classify its systems as an “emerging” technology, upon commissioner Mike Picker’s encouragement, regulators approved the reclassification Aug. 14. The issue is critical to the amount of funding these technologies can tap. “Emerging” distributed technologies, including storage, qualify for higher incentives through the Self-Generation Incentive Program. Subsidies for technologies deemed “mature” are much more limited. “It’s clear there’s more market potential” for this, said Peevey. He added the state is not fostering it. “Its technology that allows us to cool buildings in the morning during non-peak hours, then shut it off later,” Picker explained. Peevey encouraged the commission to clarify the definition of emerging and mature alternative energy technologies.