Benefits of energy storage in power systems with high level of intermittent generation

Abstract

The world has witnessed increasing growth in wind power in recent years. In 2007, the UK government unveiled a plan for what could be one of the most ambitious expansions in wind power generation the world has ever seen. Through construction of hundreds of offshore turbines, the country hopes to power the equivalent of all the UK's homes by 2020. However, a major problem associated with wind power is its intermittency. Even if it were predictable, it is still difficult to match the generation with demand. This paper focuses on the adoption of energy storage to alleviate the intermittency problem and the extra value which energy storage would add by capturing the wind power during times when transmission lines are congested and transmitting it at other times. In the paper a methodology is proposed to analyse the ability of energy storage to accommodate the intermittency of wind power generation. The model helps estimate the amount of wind energy that would have to be curtailed and the amount of electrical demand would have been left unsatisfied by using wind power alone. By reviewing a number of reports on development and integration of large scale energy storage in power system, the paper concludes that it is important now for the relevant regulator to develop a mechanism to encourage investment in energy storage. However, the development of such a mechanism requires a clear understanding of the benefits of energy storage, and the level of such benefits in monetary terms. In this paper, models for quantifying the technical, economic and environmental benefits of energy storage in an example power system with high level of wind power generation have been developed. Simulation results based on the model power system show that energy storage is able to mitigate power fluctuation and improve the wind plant capacity factor. (4 pages)