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The grid is a giant battery

Grid operators need incentives to use the grid as a large scale battery

The grid itself can operate as storage, argues David Littell, a former public utility commissioner in the US state of Maine and now with the global Regulatory Assistance Project.

The grid as storage can be efficient and cost effective. Larger scale grid operations open up geographic potential to move energy, balance energy and reduce the need for capacity and reserves dramatically at scales that smaller storage cannot. On a smaller scale, literal storage, such as the grid-enabled hot water heaters in use for decades, can shift demand peaks to reduce unnecessary supply side costs for high priced peaking plant. New technologies enhance the ability of different forms of storage to be deployed for different uses — but the efficiency is at the grid level,” he says.

The challenge lies in introducing regulation to monetise the value of storage. Capturing the different value streams of storage will be a market, planning and analysis issue for years. Storage can be managed to maximise consumer end-user value, to provide distribution grid support or bulk transmission grid support. Or storage can look like a small generator or customers.

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These potential uses must be made to work in sync to optimise the value storage brings to consumers, the distribution and bulk power grids and how it can support or supplement traditional generation and grid assets. Planners don’t understand how to do this because the technologies are only now being developed and deployed.”

Grid operators need performance incentives to use the grid as a large scale battery to balance variable generation from wind and solar, adds Littell. Achieving high operational excellence has to be of greater benefit to an operator than building more and bigger power plants.”

He warns that the focus on the capacity of each individual storage technology obscures the efficiencies and cost effectiveness that grid-scale operations can achieve using the grid itself as storage.

TEXT Lyn Harrison & David Milborrow