Residential battery energy storage technology is rapidly improving to coincide with the continuously increasing market demand for the deployment of this technology. As the grid is being critically constrained in many areas, residential storage can help with hosting capacity issues and resiliency during critical events. Battery storage also allows for greater functionality and use of more diverse intermittent energy resources like solar and wind. Currently, many utilities have antiquated or no interconnection processes at all for residential storage, despite the increasing demand and benefits to the grid. The Interstate Renewable Energy Council recently came out with a battery interconnection toolkit, “BATRIES” created in collaboration with utilities and industry experts. The toolkit is meant to help policymakers adopt best practices for integrating energy storage onto the grid. This session will discuss how batteries can improve grid resiliency, and battery interconnection best practices from the toolkit related to inadvertent export, smart meters, flexible interconnection, and aggregation. The session will also look into jurisdictions that have adopted these practices, programs, and policies, and how through advocacy, the industry can seek to expand them to new jurisdictions.