Electric storage: From idea to action

RPBEE Principal Romkaew Broehm co-authored “Electric Storage: From idea to action” with Daniel Hagan, Kirsti Massie and Jane Rueger, partners of global law firm White & Case.

The article examines the growing use of electric storage [ES] around the world, which is due, in part, to the growing demand of electric storage (lithium-ion batteries) in the electric vehicle sector.  Commensurately,  the cost of electric storage has been driven down; a trend that is projected to continue.  Additionally, regulators have promoted the use of this technology, either by modifying market rules or requiring utilities to consider ES as part of their integrated resource plans.  For instance, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered independent system operators (ISOs) to modify their market rules and tariffs to allow ES to participate in these organized markets under its own characteristics. [See FERC Order 841]  This order aims to remove, or at least reduce, existing market entry barriers and allow ES’ owners to manage their own ES’ state of charges.  Thus, ES resources can collect revenue from various markets (such as capacity, energy, and ancillary services) simultaneously.   So, we expect to see more and more of this technology being utilized and integrated into the electricity industry at all levels–generation, transmission, distribution, and customer sites.

Moreover, the article pointed out that although lithium-ion batteries are the predominant technology,      “[f]low batteries are an emergent technology and may eventually achieve higher market share.”  The article reminds the readers that there still remains significant global R&D efforts advancing other, more novel ES technologies. “Each has different pros and cons, and different operating characteristics in key areas such as cycle times and duration and speed of discharge.” Researchers are now looking for a storage technology with longer duration than the current average of 4 hours.

The full article can be downloaded here: Electric Storage From Idea to Action.