Review of wholesale markets and regulations for advanced energy storage services in the United States: Current status and path forward

Abstract

Today, advanced energy storage technologies, particularly electrochemical batteries, represent an increasingly economic option for supporting the integration of renewable energy resources and providing the grid with greater operational flexibility. Crucially though, the large-scale deployment of these assets, and the development of successful business models to support them is heavily reliant on policy, regulation and market design. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of the array of federal, ISO/RTO and state-level rules and regulations shaping today's energy storage deployment across the United States. We highlight the fragmented and heterogeneous nature of existing market participation models available for advanced energy storage across restructured power markets and emphasize the need for design changes to power markets at all timescales to allow for the more efficient integration of energy storage. We also reflect on how well FERC's recent Order 841 does in terms of providing a framework for the establishment of more fit-for-purpose market participation models for storage, something that will be key for today's evolving power sector as it becomes more dependent on intermittent renewable resources.