Onsite Energy Storage in Today's Market

Renewable energy has become increasingly more popular over the past decade with growing public interest and new regulations on conventional power generation, such as coal or nuclear. Renewable energy from photovoltaic and wind is a quickly growing market and is supplying more power to the grid every day. The fluctuations from renewable power generations sources make it difficult to utilize all the potential power generated as conventional power is needed to maintain the demand on the grid. To efficiently utilize all the potential generation from these renewable sources, it is necessary to establish a means of storing the energy that is captured to utilize it for future use. These systems can be located across the grid and onsite where the electric is being consumed. Energy storage systems provide wholesale market opportunities plus other benefits such as energy arbitrage, reduced transmission congestion, low local marginal prices, and both voltage and frequency regulation. There are potential value of on-site energy storage devices as a load-management tool for all sectors of the market to reduce costs for individual customers and for the utility.