Difficulties of new energy storage regulations

What challenges does the energy storage industry face?

The energy storage industry faces challenges such as high costs, safety concerns, and lack of standardization. The prospects for the energy storage industry appear favorable, driven by a rising desire for renewable energy sources and the imperative for ensuring grid reliability and resilience.

Should energy storage systems be regulated?

Energy storage systems play a major role in this regard. Available options for revised regulation —Ideally, connecting to the grid should imply a commitment to pay for all of the network costs caused. Let us consider, just as an example, a typical scheme for a private regasification facility.

Why is storage a regulatory challenge?

Consequently, this involves two kinds of regulatory challenges, because storage competes with different types of services. The first kind of regulatory challenge is related to wholesale market design, because flexibility services can be sold in “competitive” wholesale markets (energy, ancillary services, etc.).

Should storage services be regulated?

Hence, markets rules should allow storage services to compete in a nondiscriminatory manner with other services (e.g., utility-scale storage vs. CCGTs). The second kind of regulatory challenge has to do with the regulation of energy networks, because storage services may avoid the use of “regulated” networks.

Should energy networks be regulated?

The second kind of regulatory challenge has to do with the regulation of energy networks, because storage services may avoid the use of “regulated” networks. Consequently, network rules should allow them to compete in a technologically neutral manner (e.g., utility-scale storage vs. transmission upgrades).

Can energy storage services be integrated at different levels of electrical systems?

According to Medina et al. (2014), energy storage services can be integrated at different levels of electrical systems, in particular at generation, transmission, distribution, and customer level. However, the authors detected some limiting factors.