ORIGINAL REPORTING: Primer: The now and future impacts of energy storage

Primer: The now and future impacts of energy storage; With renewables growth comes the need to move variable generation to when customers use power most

Herman K. Trabish, October 20, 2015 (Utility Dive)

Grid operators and forward-thinking utilities are already getting a glimpse of what energy storage can do. Multi-megawatt energy storage installations are now providing services and finding value propositions and use case scenarios around the world and at all levels of the grid. And there are gigawatts of projects already on the horizon for the New York ISO, MISO, SPP, ISO New England, ERCOT, and the California ISO. Cost estimates vary, but all show storage rapidly becoming more affordable.

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A Navigant study predicted a 4 hour battery storage system would be as low as $700 per kWh by 2020 while Oncor foresees a $350 per kWh cost in 2020. Morgan Stanley estimates battery-only costs will eventually approach $125 per kWh and Tesla has said its lithium-ion battery-only cost is already $110 per kWh. There are as many as 30 to 40 different applications for energy storage on the grid and multiple applications within each segment. Flexible resources, reserve and response services require faster technologies. Transmission and distribution grid support can come from multiple chemistries. For bulk power management, there are massive scale storage technologies already in the field, like pumped hydro and compressed air. click here for more

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