The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) recently released a new report examining battery storage and the energy services they can provide the electric grid. RMI concludes that storage can have the most grid impact the farther downstream energy storage is located (e.g., behind the meter).

Key Details

• RMI identified 13 fundamental energy services that behind-the-meter energy storage systems can provide to three major stakeholder groups (see Figure 1)
• Most customer-sited energy storage is deployed for one of three uses: demand charge reduction, backup power, or increasing solar self-consumption
• Dispatching battery storage for a primary application and then re-dispatching a system or fleet of systems to provide multiple stacked services creates additional value for all electricity system stakeholders
• However, current regulatory structures prevent systems from providing and monetizing many of these energy services
• RMI based its analysis and findings on a meta-analysis of six industry and research studies, supplemented by expert interviews and internal analysis

Figure 1: Potential Energy Services Provided by Behind-the-Meter Battery Storage

Implications

Compensating battery storage for multiple stacked services would place storage on a trajectory similar to the maturation seen in the solar industry. However, battery storage may not have access to the same stackable financial subsidies that drove solar growth. Instead, the growth of battery storage will be dependent on stacking multiple energy services.

More Information

Rocky Mountain Institute: The Economics of Battery Energy Storage