Energy Storage Benefits and Market Analysis Handbook A Study for the DOE Energy Storage Systems Program

This Guide describes a high level, technology-neutral framework for assessing potential benefits from and economic market potential for energy storage used for electric utility-related applications. In the United States use of electricity storage to support and optimize transmission and distribution (T&D) services has been limited due to high storage system cost and by limited experience with storage system design and operation. Recent improvement of energy storage and power electronics technologies, coupled with changes in the electricity marketplace, indicate an era of expanding opportunity for electricity storage as a cost-effective electric resource. Some recent developments (in no particular order) that drive the opportunity include: (1) states adoption of the renewables portfolio standard (RPS), which may increased use of renewable generation with intermittent output, (2) financial risk leading to limited investment in new transmission capacity, coupled with increasing congestion on some transmission lines, (3) regional peaking generation capacity constraints, and (4) increasing emphasis on locational marginal pricing (LMP).