A report released today (2 March) by the Carbon Trust outlines the significant cost savings that could be made with the UK electricity system, should the potential for energy storage be realised. The technology could deliver savings of up to £50 a year on an average consumer energy bill and a system-wide saving of up to £2.4bn a year by 2030.
The report, launched at the Scottish Renewables Annual Conference, was collaboratively funded by E.ON, SSE, Scottish Power, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Scottish Government. The analysis, carried out over 12 months by the Carbon Trust and Imperial College London, is said to be the most comprehensive review to date of the benefits of storage at a UK-system level.
It highlights the significant savings that could be made for consumers by deploying storage. It then explores two specific example applications of distributed storage to highlight a series of core barriers to deployment that have created a market failure, and makes recommendations on how to overcome these barriers to create a level playing field for storage.
Out-dated market framework
Andrew Lever, Director of Innovation at the Carbon Trust says: “Energy storage has long been seen as a panacea for a low carbon energy sector in the UK, offering a suite of services to balance the system, make electricity networks more efficient and help the UK to meet its carbon targets at the lowest cost. But storage turns conventional knowledge on its head as it doesn’t fit neatly into existing regulatory frameworks, which have been designed around an energy system where power is supplied to consumers from large centralised power stations. We have now reached a stage where the technologies are looking promising, but will face challenges in deployment due to an outdated market framework. An urgent rethink is needed so we can address and overcome the broken value chain of energy storage, which is essential if Britain is to provide low carbon energy at the lowest cost to the consumer.”
Scenarios that support flexibility
The report assesses the wider benefits of flexibility solutions for a future UK electricity system, examining the impact storage might have to bill payers across three future energy scenarios out to 2030. These include the National Grid’s ‘No Progression’ and ‘Gone Green’ scenarios, as well as a third scenario developed specifically for this report showing a least-cost pathway for the UK to meet its 2030 carbon emissions reduction target.
Under the National Grid’s ‘Gone Green’ scenario the addition of energy storage can unlock system cost savings of up to £2.4 billion a year by 2030. And if just 50 percent of this saving was passed on to domestic customers it could reduce the average household electricity bill by up to £50 a year.
Pinpointing the cost savings and other benefits
On a least-cost pathway, deploying storage could deliver cost savings of up to £7 billion in 2030. £2 billion of this comes from the deployment of storage, with a further £5 billion primarily from improved use of existing generation assets and optimised and reduced investment in new low carbon generation assets.
The range of potential benefits provided by energy storage includes absorbing “wrong time” energy, then releasing it to meet demand, to help support capacity constraints and to balance the influx of intermittent and, or inflexible low carbon technologies onto the grid, plus avoiding expense associated with reinforcing assets and adding new capacity.
If the UK addresses current regulations to create a fair and transparent market, these reduced costs and increased resilience translate into cheaper household energy bills. However, the report finds that despite the technology readiness and the significant societal benefits of energy storage, the split of its benefits across network stakeholders makes it difficult for a single one to develop a business case. An incompatible market structure has reduced the commercial viability of storage for investors by increasing risk and reducing revenue potential.
Storage: Crucial to decarbonisation ambitions
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: “If Scotland and the UK are to meet our shared ambitions to decarbonise energy and tackle climate change, we must have energy storage. This welcome report demonstrates that investing in storage now will reduce the cost of a future UK electricity system, cutting bills for consumers.
“Scotland is already deploying storage technologies, with existing and proposed pumped hydro sites, as well as battery projects and the storage of renewably-generated hydrogen for use in heat, power and transport. The regulatory arrangements must change to recognise the economic and the energy security benefits of storage and I urge the UK Government to accelerate its work in this area.
Paul Cooley, Director of Renewable Development at SSE commented:
“SSE supports the findings of the Carbon Trust’s report which spells out how energy storage can significantly reduce bills for consumers whilst decarbonising our energy system and retaining security of supply. It also shows that with the correct market structures, price signals and policy certainty, projects such as SSE’s proposed pumped storage scheme at Coire Glas could make a valuable contribution to society.”
The analysis shows that many of the necessary regulatory reforms are likely to be cost neutral and will require no additional funding from the government. Until the current market conditions are addressed to reflect more accurately the value that storage can provide to the network, the UK risks a future under-deployment of flexibility solutions preventing the capture of the systems benefits identified in the report.
Strategy call
The report calls for a clear and comprehensive strategic approach to energy storage and other forms of flexibility. Recommendations include: the creation of a multi-stakeholder taskforce to develop proposals for adaptation of market frameworks; the establishment of an inter-governmental working group to consider proposals from the taskforce to ensure changes are coordinated across the multiple and independently regulated markets relevant for storage; and joint industry projects to demonstrate specific cost or performance characteristics of storage solutions.
To read the full report visit: http://www.carbontrust.com/media/672486/energy-storage-report.pdf.
