Post-disaster battery demand project

Could post-disaster battery demand increase impact utilities?

Thousands of Floridians sheltered in 115 schools powered by solar-plus-storage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, able to charge their mobile phones to call their loved ones, staying warm and well-lit. In comparison, 6.7 utility customers affected by the hurricane, suffered with no electricity.

2017 was a harrowing one in terms of natural disasters — Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, California wildfires. As the billions of dollars of post-disaster damage becomes apparent, the resilience of energy storage systems and solar make them a very attractive prospect, and utilities, grid operators and public services across the world are taking note.

As there is no current way to accurately put a value on the resilience of a system, taking this into account during calculations is a challenge. Nevertheless, some groups such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are trying to put dollar values to different cases in their recent research. Whereas diesel generators have typically been used for backup power, when there is no guarantee when fuel can be resupplied, their resilience suffers compared to solar-plus-storage.

In the short-term, customers switching to solar-plus-storage for resilience reasons could eventually reduce their reliance on energy drawn from the grid, negatively affecting the revenues for utilities. Utilities can stay ahead of this, however, by leaning into the trend and reaping the benefits: research from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) predicts that solar-plus-storage combined with smart combined devices could reduce peak net load across wider geographic areas by up to 25%.

Combining multiple units of residential solar and storage can also be used as a virtual power plant (VPP), combining multiple benefits. The grid is more resilient, homes are protected against power outages, the need for new assets (transmission, distribution and generation) is reduced or eliminated and the VPP can be used to provide ancillary services to the grid.

Read the original article

If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.

LATEST ARTICLES

When Global Green Economy Met Energy Storage

Our energy system is dynamically evolving. The realization of the urgency towards Net Zero, Green economies has been more pressing than ever. The energy transformation serving a more sustainable future, safeguarding our ecosystem and protecting our planet is of paramount importance for many developed and developing nations across the globe. In this analysis, we delve…

Read More

Energy Storage Systems: the role of an Integrator

Simplifying BESS deployments by mastering their associated risks With the introduction of Battery Energy Storage Systems ‘BESS’, a new role has been created on the value chain. It is the role of a BESS integrator. The role of an integrator can be misunderstood at times or blended with other roles at other times. This is…

Read More

Product Development: Embracing product safety and compliance

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: EMBRACING PRODUCT SAFETY AND COMPLIANCE Recent safety incidents on storage plants have raised concerns about the fire safety of battery storage systems. Such events are extremely rare compared to the cumulated global deployments of energy storage systems, which have reached more than 27 GWh by end of 2020 (Wood Mackenzie 2021). However, for…

Read More

★REVIEWS

“Probably the most interactive and well organized storage event on the calendar.”

★★★★★

Sales Director, S&C

“Great topics, competent speakers, good networking: keep it like that.”

★★★★★

TLC & SCADA Manager, FRI-EL

“High scientific content, well targeted, perfect organization.”

★★★★★

Expert Technical & Governance, Elia

Excellent networking event. The sponsorship was well worth it.”

★★★★★

Manager, ATL

View More

x