29 - Energy storage integration

Abstract

As fundamental storage technologies improve in terms of performance and cost, their use in electricity networks will become increasingly attractive. It is likely that the business cases that emerge will continue to be sensitive to the ability to capture value streams from delivering more than one service. Successful service delivery will be dependent on the availability of appropriate and effective planning and operating schemes. Validation of these schemes through demonstration projects is an essential step in building the experience and knowledge required to widely deploy energy storage in electricity networks. The chapter covers a range of the work that has been undertaken by researchers, working with the electricity industry, to advance the understanding of energy storage. The importance of policy and markets in creating an acceptable commercial environment is described. Methods used for network planning of energy storage installations are outlined. Operational strategies for individual storage units, multiple units, and in combination with other technologies are provided. Examples of demonstration projects and their outcomes illustrate postal progress in deploying energy storage live networks. Finally, advanced methods for integrated storage modeling are explained, with examples of the findings that can be made. Under current regulatory and electricity market conditions, conventional solutions, such as fossil fuel–based peaking plants for covering peak electricity demand, are seen as cheaper technologies when compared with energy storage systems (ESS). However, this does not necessarily represent the true cost and value of ESS. This circumstance is expected to change as ESS technologies continue to advance, capital costs reduce, deployment experience increases, and there is the opportunity to reconcile multiple value streams. To enable grid-connected energy storage to flourish, effort is required in a number of areas: (1) Energy policy decisions must be reviewed and ESS policies must be aligned with those for renewable energy systems (RES) so that the ability of ESS to add RES capacity to the system is rewarded. (2) Regulatory rules need to be examined; a new asset class and associated regulation specifically for ESS is advisable; and standardized evaluation methods for determining the value of storage in power systems would reduce investor uncertainty. (3) Updated ancillary services markets to provide adequate compensation for technologies that can respond quickly and with high accuracy. (4) Operation schemes should be investigated; the capture of multiple value streams is dependent on the ability to control storage in a way that can balance competing requirements appropriately. (5) Roadmap for ESS deployment on the grid; if ESS is considered as a potential solution, it is important that plans, targets, and goals for the use of ESS are established. (6) Development of sophisticated modeling tools; the properties of storage media; and demands placed by grid control requirements are complex and at times contradictory. Integrated modeling of these will allow the development of schemes that are able to be more cost effective. (7) Deployment of projects; an increasing number of storage installations are in operation, but the multifaceted nature of storage means that further novel applications still need to be deployed. Addressing these seven areas will mean that the potential of energy storage for supporting electricity networks can be practically realized.