People pay attention to energy storage

Why is energy storage important?

As the report details, energy storage is a key component in making renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, financially and logistically viable at the scales needed to decarbonize our power grid and combat climate change.

How does energy storage work?

Energy storage can be used to lower peak consumption (the highest amount of power a customer draws from the grid), thus reducing the amount customers pay for demand charges. Our model calculates that in North America, the break-even point for most customers paying a demand charge is about $9 per kilowatt.

Is it profitable to provide energy-storage solutions to commercial customers?

The model shows that it is already profitable to provide energy-storage solutions to a subset of commercial customers in each of the four most important applications—demand-charge management, grid-scale renewable power, small-scale solar-plus storage, and frequency regulation.

Can energy storage make money?

Energy storage can make money right now. Finding the opportunities requires digging into real-world data. Energy storage is a favorite technology of the future—for good reasons. What is energy storage? Energy storage absorbs and then releases power so it can be generated at one time and used at another.

Why do companies invest in energy-storage devices?

Historically, companies, grid operators, independent power providers, and utilities have invested in energy-storage devices to provide a specific benefit, either for themselves or for the grid. As storage costs fall, ownership will broaden and many new business models will emerge.

Why do we need a co-optimized energy storage system?

The need to co-optimize storage with other elements of the electricity system, coupled with uncertain climate change impacts on demand and supply, necessitate advances in analytical tools to reliably and efficiently plan, operate, and regulate power systems of the future.