Energy Storage System Benefits For Businesses, Utilities and Consumers
Energy storage systems (ESS) store electricity for use when it’s needed, like an uninterruptible power supply under your desk or a backup generator. They can be battery, chemical, electrochemical, mechanical (pumped hydroelectric storage), or thermal.
Long-duration iron flow batteries are an example of a newer, environmentally sustainable energy storage technology. These battery solutions are ideal for traditional renewable energy and utility projects that require high cycling capabilities.
Battery Energy Storage Systems
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) – often powered by lithium-ion batteries – can provide a variety of benefits for businesses, utilities and consumers. These batteries can be used to increase power allocation flexibility, facilitate renewable energy integration, support system resiliency and provide a new revenue stream for utilities.
For renewable energy producers, battery storage helps to make wind and solar power more viable. These systems are capable of storing and releasing energy in milliseconds to manage the fluctuating nature of renewable energy production, ensuring that this electricity is available when it’s needed.
In commercial settings, battery storage systems can help to shift Energy storage system energy usage from peak times to lower-demand times. This reduces utility demand charges, which can account for 30 to 70 percent of your business’s electricity bill.
In grid-scale applications, BESS solutions can increase the capacity of electric vehicle charging stations by storing energy when demand is low and then discharging to meet peak power demands. This helps to avoid overloading the power grid and prevent expensive upgrades to existing infrastructure. In both cases, sizing the battery energy storage system based on availability of grid power and EV charging demand is crucial to optimize economics.
Grid-Scale Energy Storage Systems
In addition to enhancing energy management at facilities, battery storage can help improve the efficiency of the electric grid as a whole. By responding to momentary differences in electricity supply and demand, it can alleviate voltage fluctuations, stabilize frequency and power quality, and reduce transmission congestion.
The DOE has partnered with national laboratories, electric utilities and their trade organizations, energy storage technology providers, and other stakeholders to accelerate the commercialization of grid-scale storage technologies. These initiatives include identifying and developing new advanced materials for the storage device, improving power electronics and communication devices to optimize overall system performance, and conducting large-scale and long-duration field demonstrations.
Integrated into the electric grid, these systems are often charged with clean, renewable energy at off-peak hours and discharged to meet peak demands. By helping to integrate renewables and to increase power system reliability, they can reduce the need for expensive new fossil generation plants, defer transmission and distribution upgrades, and help smooth the output of intermittent resources like wind and solar.
Industrial energy storage systems are often used to save on demand charges, which represent between 30%-70% of total utility costs for many facilities. Strategically deployed, these systems can use a sophisticated algorithm to detect and analyze electricity usage patterns and dispatch stored energy in real-time, shifting peak load to non-peak hours and saving money for the facility. Alternatively, these systems can be monetized via the merchant market, selling excess capacity into wholesale markets for additional value creation and cost savings.
Commercial Energy Storage Systems
Energy storage is an advanced green technology that Energy storage system can help lower commercial electricity costs, increase energy resiliency and reduce carbon emissions. Businesses that choose to install battery storage systems can take advantage of a number of financial incentives available through SMUD and other programs.
The types of commercial energy storage systems are divided into two categories: front-of-the-meter (FTM) and behind-the-meter (BTM). FTM systems are connected directly to the power grid and belong to a utility, which uses them to solve network congestion problems or as an alternative to building new power lines. BTM systems are installed on the site of a business owner and can be used to improve the stability of its energy supply, cut electricity costs and become an additional revenue stream.
In addition to providing backup power and reducing demand charges on a utility bill, battery systems can also enable renewable generation to be dispatched more efficiently. For commercial solar PV customers, this means more of their energy can be used at non-peak times. In addition, for companies switching to electric vehicle fleets, batteries can be used to provide ultra-fast EV charging and help them meet their sustainability goals.
Immersa offers turnkey solutions for commercial battery storage systems, from analysing your business needs to designing and planning your system, through installation and aftercare. Our systems are precision engineered to meet your specific needs, and we can offer a range of battery technologies and sizes.
Residential Energy Storage Systems
While most energy storage attention centers on utility-scale batteries and battery systems for commercial and industrial use, residential systems are growing rapidly and are poised to offer significant benefits for customers and the power grid.
These home energy storage devices can help reduce electricity bills by allowing households to exploit time-of-use rates and avoid expensive peak pricing. They can also improve the efficiency of renewable energy generation by helping to better align more variable wind and solar output with demand.
Lastly, these small systems can help provide backup power in case of grid outages or natural disasters, increasing the resilience of communities. They can be used alone or in conjunction with community solar or aggregated rooftop solar projects to form a community-level microgrid, and may be eligible for investment tax credits.
In addition, these systems can support community resiliency by offering backup power to low-income or under-served areas that are at greater risk of disruption from wildfires, hurricanes, or other disasters. They can also be deployed in rural communities to provide backup energy to homes that are more distant from the electrical grid.
Additionally, these systems can be used to replace fossil fuel peaker plants, which operate only during periods of high electricity demand in dense urban areas, and usually at times of highest air pollution and health impacts in low-income communities and communities of color. These plants are often sited in low-income neighborhoods and have been linked to asthma and other illnesses.