Back in my days working at Duke Energy, we sized our first distribution-tied energy storage systems based on what we could afford given our research project budget. As energy storage scales to become a mainstream grid resource, our utility customers are demanding a much more rigorous process based on demonstrated engineering and business needs. And, if you think about it, no other grid resource is deployed without this type of engineering analysis and justification.
So we are doing that work for them today, and I thought I’d share some thoughts on how we’re approaching it.
Here are our key steps to sizing a circuit-level energy storage system:
1. Identify the distribution circuits where energy storage is contemplated and collect performance data for representative weeks throughout the year.
2. Articulate clear high-level goals for the proposed project based on the utility’s intuition about where the needs or problems are. An important part of this work is to prioritize these felt needs, both problems and opportunities, clearly.
3. Analyze the sample circuit data and create a situational analysis with which to engage the needs and options for achieving them.
4. Review the available uses of energy storage and select the priority use cases for the project based on criteria such as impact on grid resources, economic return, logistical feasibility and other factors.
5. Use these prioritized use cases to select a battery chemistry that meets the required performance objectives.
6. Combine battery chemistry choice, use case priorities and sample circuit data to model the impact of different power and energy capacities on the system’s ability to deliver against its objectives.
7. Enter the procurement process (RFP or otherwise) with detailed sizing and performance requirements to source the optimal energy storage system for the need.
This process puts power systems engineering in the driver’s seat so an energy storage system can be designed and procured from the start to perform its optimal function as a grid-integrated resource. This process moves us past R&D and to a point where energy storage is a rigorously-designed and analytically justified grid investment.
Obviously, a lot of details are involved with each of these steps, but I’m excited about the process outlined above and the results we are getting for customers using it. If you’re interested in learning more, give us a shout at dsowder@1energysystems.com.
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