Full Title: Storage Futures Study: Grid Operational Impacts of Widespread Storage Deployment
Author(s): Jennie Jorgenson, A. Will Frazier, Paul Denholm, Nate Blair
Publisher(s): National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Publication Date: January 18, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
This report, the sixth in the SFS series, uses cost-driven scenarios from NREL’s Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model as a starting point to examine the operational impacts of grid-scale storage deployment and relationships between this deployment and the contribution of variable renewable energy. We use commercial production cost modeling software to evaluate hourly operation of five scenarios that reach between 210 gigawatts (GW) and 930 GW of installed storage by 2050. We find that storage plays an important role in these power systems between now and 2050—by storing the lowest-marginal cost generation (often, overgeneration from solar or wind plants) and generating energy during the highest net load periods of the day and year. Storage helps with the integration of variable renewable energy and by providing an important resource to provide continued reliable power.