Method for Analyzing the Value of Distributed Energy Storage at the Facility Level - Introduction

There are a very wide array of energy storage devices in production or in development. Many devices are developed with a focus on the centralized utility model where grid scale energy production is supported or augmented with grid scale energy storage. On the opposite side of the spectrum are small scale energy storage devices, most commonly meant to support small, household, island renewable energy installations (commonly Solar PV). Certainly there is great potential in both of these markets, but I feel that there is also great potential in a distributed energy storage model where individual facilities (office buildings, factories, schools, etc…) deploy energy storage devices to their advantage. I believe three factors will add pressure to accelerate development in this area:

1.      A (hopefully significant) continuation of the downward trend of distributed scale energy storage devices.

2.      An increasing demand for high quality, stable and reliable electricity to support increasingly sophisticated equipment.

3.      An increase in the price that utilities charge these facilities for the facility’s peak power consumption.

The highest priority for facilities managers is to meet the occupant’s energy and work environment requirements to help achieve optimal productivity. Often, many other considerations such as cost and sustainability take a backseat to maintaining productivity. The methodology that I propose below is meant to allow a facilities manager or a sustainability officer to quickly evaluate the appropriateness and value of deploying an energy storage device. This methodology considers the costs and benefits of only deploying energy storage at the facility, later postings will expand this methodology to consider combining distributed renewable energy generation with the energy storage device.

Figure 1 shows an outline of the methodology to be used as a “first pass” analysis to estimate the value of distributed energy storage at the facility level. The methodology below will consider three methods of energy storage: distributed scale Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), vanadium redox batteries and thermal energy storage. Each subsequent post in this series will review one additional step in the methodology. I very much hope that people comment on each step to help refine the methodology.

Figure 1 showing an outline of the methodology for evaluating a facility level energy storage deployment.