Operation algorithms for both the owners (bottom-up) and the grid operators (top-down) will be developed and used to get a better understanding of the incentives required to deploy and combine different energy storage technologies.
The project is divided into five key activities related to
- Control systems for individual owners of energy storage systems
- Strategies for improving power system operation by utilizing energy storage systems
- Methods for sizing and placing different types of energy storage systems
- Operational modelling to inform investment decisions and required economic incentives
- Assessments of the energy storage systems ability to deliver services on different time scales
The power grid has traditionally been operated using large production plants from which the electric power is being dispersed to the end-users. However, the integration of variable renewable energy sources (VRES) is happening at an accelerated rate, largely facilitated by the drop in prices for wind and solar power. Consequently, the power system is shifting from primarily consisting of centralized power plants towards more distributed energy production. At the same time, there are larger power and energy demands due to the increased electrification, e.g., within the transport sector and industry.
The intermittent nature of production from VRES will often not coincide with the energy demand. Therefore, energy storage solutions such as battery energy storage systems (BESS) and hydrogen energy storage systems (HESS) are expected to be important for integrating large shares of VRES in the power system.
However, high investment cost is still one of the main barriers for large scale deployment of BESS. Hydrogen is better suited for long-term energy storage but is considered an inefficient energy carrier due to the large amounts of energy lost during production.
Increasing the deployment of BESS and HESS will, thus, require further development of these technologies to reduce costs and improve efficiency. However, it also requires a better understanding of how they should be operated to maximize their socio-economic benefits.
The MultiStore project aims to develop operation strategies for these energy storage technologies to further facilitate more VRES in the power grid. These strategies can then be used to get a better understanding of the challenges and the incentives required to deploy and combine different energy storage solutions.
This project is partly financed by the Research Council of Norway, Researcher Project under EnergiX.