Utility Week

12 | 24Th - 30Th JUnE 2016 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation Market view E nergy storage, and electricity storage in particular, is an area of utility develop- ment that has been on the radar for a number of years, and on a journey that still has some distance to run. With pumped hydro as the single excep- tion, it is probably fair to say that 20 years ago the use of storage as part of a normal distribution network operator (DNO) envi- ronment was not conceived of in any shape or form. Even ten years ago, its business- as-usual network deployment would have seemed like moons away. Battery technology was being developed for many many things but certainly not with networks in mind. But, as time has pro- gressed and the nature of our future energy system has become clearer, Low Carbon Net- work Fund (LCNF) innovation projects, in particular, have delivered a very real tangible dimension to the technical benefits associ- ated with grid storage and a better under- standing of the economics and issues. It is an understanding that it is likely to have a role at a wide range of scales and locations, both grid connected and behind the meter. Through this jour- ney, electricity stor- age has moved from technology develop- ment (particularly in lithium ion technol- ogy), through to net- work demonstration and the crystallisation of how it might be used and what environ- mental and commercial barriers need to be overcome. It is now at a stage where the economics are improving quickly, where use of elec- tricity storage for frequency management is becoming a reality, and where business- as-usual adoption to manage network con- straints is starting to peak out at us over the horizon, particularly as we look ahead to the next distribution network operator regula- tory period 2023-31. However, there is still some fog to navi- gate. The structure, age and use profile of our networks is incredibly varied, reflected in the experience of LCNF projects, which demonstrated that storage will probably have a useful role at scales and locations that are similarly diverse. Given the potential, therefore, for deployment in scenarios ranging anywhere from high-voltage down to the customer side of the meter, this equates to great diversity in terms of the ben- eficiaries in each scenario, different barriers to market in each scenario, and different business models. This makes it difficult for inves- tors or those supporting the sector such as the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) or Inno- vate UK to know which deployment sce- narios have the most promising commercial position, and which need support, focus, or investment. So, working with Innovate UK, and with input from Decc, the Electricity Stor- age Network (ESN) is developing a template document that will describe the commercial readiness status initially of up to five generic storage deployment scenarios, hosting infor- mation such as typical costs, potential rev- enues, barriers, and the status of activities seeking to break down those barriers. The result will be a straightforward, pub- lically available portfolio document of these likely common scenarios, with more to be added as the sector develops. Equally, for anyone looking into the sector from outside such as investors or new entrants, it will give an apples-with-apples, clear and succinct guide to the relative strengths, weaknesses and commercial prospects and invest- ment readiness of each typical deployment scenario. The initial scenarios being focused on in this work will be: 1) storage used to directly support intermit- tent generation at medium voltage; 2) storage used principally to defer low volt- age network upgrade; 3) merchant model bulk storage; 4) behind the meter domestic; 5) industrial and commercial customer owned. The ESN will use the knowledge and experience of its members over the next two or three months to compile and develop this package of information and publish in the autumn, and they encourage anyone with an interest or contribution to make in this area to get in touch. Mark Thompson, lead technologist, Innovate UK and Jill Cainey, director, Electricity Storage Network The business case for storage Mark Thompson and Jill Cainey explain what the Electricity Storage Network is doing to provide the market with information about the business case for different energy storage scenarios. "Understanding and articulating the commercial oppor- tunities for storage is a real challenge, given the significant variety in how it might be deployed." MarK ThoMpson appRoximate matURity of eneRgy stoRage teChnologies SourCe: eIA, 2014 Pit storage Capital requirement x technology risk research and development electricity storage Thermal storage Current maturity level Demonstration and deployment Commercialisation Thermochemical Synthetic natural gas Adiabatic CAeS Supercapacitor Molten salt Ice storage residential hot water heaters with storage Cold water storage Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) Hydrogen Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) Flywheel (high speed) Flow batteries Lithium-based bat teries Flywheel (low speed) Sodium-sulphur (NaS) batteries Compressed air energy storage (CAES) underground thermal energy storage (UTES)

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