Stacked value: Combine distributed energy resources and goals to dramatically raise ROI

[kristopher]

Stacked value: Combine distributed energy resources and goals to dramatically raise ROI
May 17, 2017

When it comes to achieving the best possible ROI from battery storage investments, a lot of potential value is being left on the table. This is mostly because many energy storage purchasers use only a fraction of their storage capacity. Worse, many target only one use with their storage systems, even though batteries can provide multiple uses and value streams.

The Rocky Mountain Institute’s report titled The Economics of Battery Energy Storage notes that an energy storage system dispatched solely for demand charge reduction is utilized for only 5–50% of its useful life, whereas dispatching batteries for a primary application and then re-dispatching them to provide multiple, stacked services make the economics of storage much greater.

In fact, a holistic approach that combines battery storage with other distributed energy resources (DERs) such as controllable loads can increase value streams dramatically and can, in fact, cut battery project payback times in half.

Enbala recently quantified the economics of storage alone versus storage plus load for a large energy service provider (ESP) seeking to control battery storage on C&I accounts so it could engage in a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a west coast utility. The primary goal was to provide capacity to the regional ISO (CAISO) using behind-the-meter storage. If the network could maintain its commitment level to the ISO, additional services and revenue streams could be stacked on, with the ESP retaining the rights to this additional value...

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/stacked-value-combine-distributed-energy-resources-and-goals-to-dramatical/442649/