Stacking Grid Services with Energy Storage Techno-Economic Analysis

This paper describes a model-based evaluation analysis of grid connected Energy Storage Systems (ESS) that provide a set of grid services: energy arbitrage, distribution investment deferral and frequency regulation. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine the most profitable way to operate an ESS among different investment scenarios and dispatch schedules. Depending on the selected operational profile, revenue streams of the stacked services are aggregated and compared with capital and operating costs over the ESS lifetime, providing whether an investment on ESS is viable or not. Parameters that affect the feasibility of an ESS investment are highlighted. Results indicate that modular investments are prevalent as far as distribution investment deferral is considered, especially in combination with lucrative services as frequency regulation and energy arbitrage.