Principal Investigator Jarrod Goentzel
Co-investigator Rosemary T Berger
Wind energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the world. However, due to the inherent issues of intermittency and remoteness, the need to complement wind energy with storage is well recognized. Pumped Hydro Electric Storage units are the established and most widely studied energy storage application. Other technologies like compressed air, flywheels, and batteries are emerging, but are not yet considered economically viable.
This project aimed to design a profitable battery storage system. Configuration options included network design decisions (e.g., facility location, capacity, market participation, and grid energy supplement) and daily operating policies (i.e., policies for charging and discharging the battery). A detailed Monte Carlo simulation model was developed with realistic conditions for wind plant output, market prices, storage costs, and technical characteristics to calculate profits. The simulation results identify decisions and conditions under which a large-scale battery storage installation can be profitable. Counter to prevailing wisdom, the project demonstrated that a large-scale battery in the grid could be profitable without special subsidies. Moreover, the differential between simple and sophisticated daily operating policies indicates great promise for further work.