Data-Driven Techno-Economic and Resilience Analysis of Community Energy Storage

Several Native American reservations in the United States are located in sparsely populated areas, where the cost of electricity is relatively high and system reliability is poor. In line with the tribal traditional values of self-determination, many of these communities are seeking energy independence. This paper presents an analysis of the benefits that energy storage systems (ESSs) can provide to a small community that plans to develop a microgrid with local solar photovoltaic (PV) generation. More specifically, this work presents a method for estimating resilience improvements that a given ESS and PV system can provide, and how to size the system using load and solar generation data. Furthermore, this paper introduces a method for optimal sizing and scheduling of the ESS to maximize the economic benefit provided by trading energy with a neighboring electric power utility.