The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has approved Phase 1 of the Garden State Energy Storage Program (GSESP) with a target of 1,000 MW of energy storage systems (ESS).

Under Tranche 1 of Phase 1, the first solicitation aims to award 350-750 MW. The pre-qualification process, which started on June 25, 2025, has a final bid submission deadline of August 20, 2025.

The NJBPU expects to issue awards for Tranche 1 by October 31, 2025.

GSESP is a multi-phase program designed to deploy 2 GW of energy storage by 2030, a mandate established by the Clean Energy Act of 2018.

By bringing more energy storage online, GSESP will help increase the overall power supply that can be dispatched when needed. This increased supply is expected to mitigate wholesale electricity costs, which are a significant component of electric bills.

The execution of energy storage projects under the GSESP will also reduce long-term electricity costs through improved system efficiency.

Phase 1 of the program will be funded primarily through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program budget.

NJBPU also plans to use existing funds for Phase 1 without increasing rates for consumers. The utilization of existing funds could ensure no new or increased charges are added to ratepayers’ current electric bills.

Tranche 2 will issue a tender to allocate the remaining capacity to reach the target capacity of 1,000 MW.

Under Phase 2, the program will shift its focus to distributed energy storage, beginning in 2026. It will offer incentives for smaller grid-connected systems, including both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter projects. These incentives will include a combination of fixed payments and performance-based rewards.

NJBPU might introduce a performance-based incentive for transmission-scale systems under Phase 3, which is still under evaluation.

This program directly addresses demand growth and limited supply — the root causes of recent rate increases — while simultaneously building a major part of the state’s clean energy future.

According to BloombergNEF’s latest outlook, released recently, global energy storage capacity additions are expected to grow by 35% in 2025 to 94 GW or 247 GWh. BNEF forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 14.7% between 2025 and 2035, with yearly additions reaching 220 GW or 972 GWh by 2035.

According to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report from the American Clean Power Association and Wood Mackenzie, released in March 2025, the U.S. energy storage market hit a new record with 12.3 GW installations across all segments in 2024.