Energy Storage Grows Up

Source: Jeff Postelwait · T&D WORLD · | May 3, 2021

As battery costs fall, the flexibility of battery energy storage is making it useful and cost-effective in a wider variety of applications.

Source: T&D World

Jon Wellinghoff says he does not worry about power outages anymore.

“I just bought an electric vehicle, actually, and now I have 100 kW of storage sitting in my garage, and I also have two Tesla Powerwalls. So, in my house that never peaks over 3 kW, I now have 15 or 20 times my peak that I’m able to store,” the former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) chairman said of his home in Berkeley, California, U.S.

Wellinghoff said electric cars like his Ford Mustang Mark E have been a factor in grid-scale batteries becoming cheaper, more efficient and used by utilities in a growing variety of applications.

“There are some technology advances taking place, and manufacturing processes are being streamlined. Production is ramping up, so you’re seeing economies of scale. There’s now a greater demand for batteries,” Wellinghoff explained.

Battery energy storage is unlocking more value for utilities than in the past.

“They can stack value with the services they provide to the grid. They want to use a battery in [PJM Interconnection] for volt/VAR support. That’s a new application for energy storage and it used to be done exclusively by generators,” Wellinghoff noted.