Validated and Transparent Energy Storage Valuation and Optimization Tool
A publicly available tool for optimizing energy storage systems.
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Recipient
Palo Alto, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
23rd
Assembly District
$1,000,000
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
The project successfully ended on December 30, 2016, and the final report was published. The final report can be seen at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/2017publications/CEC-500-2017-016/CEC-500-2017… /]
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After project was completed, ongoing outreach activities continue. For example, the tool was presented to NYSERDA for testing, and a meeting was held between the CEC and CPUC staff to present the tool's capabilities and its potential adoption for future procurement decisions. Additionally, the California Energy Commission held a public workshop for the purpose of training and obtaining feedback for future refinement of the tool.
The Issue
The California Public Utilities Commission has set a target of 1.325 GW of energy storage by 2020, however, the role and value of energy storage is not fully understood. The barriers to energy storage use include: high capital costs; lack of information regarding performance; limited operational experience; and lack of comprehensive, publicly available tools that can analyze the financial and technical performance of energy storage systems. Models are needed that optimize grid-level energy storage deployment with respect to location, size, and type.
Project Innovation
This project developed, tested, and validated a publicly available computer model for the CPUC's energy storage use cases that determines the most optimal energy storage systems. This software model successfully assesses costs and benefits and guides energy storage projects with respect to location, size, and type. The software is publicly released as a cloud-hosted tool.
Project Benefits
This agreement developed a "first of its kind" publically available tool that determines the value of energy storage with respect to location, size, and type.
Affordability
This Agreement lowered costs by making available a tool for determining the costs and benefits of energy storage projects with respect to location, size, and type so that the lowest cost solution can be selected.
Reliability
This Agreement increased reliability of the transmission and distribution grid by encouraging greater use of energy storage in the bulk and distribution system to increase resilience to disruptions and intermittency of renewable generation.
Key Project Members
Ben Kaun
Subrecipients
E3M, Inc
Strategen
Lumina Decision Systems, Inc.
Match Partners
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
