Greening the Grid: Utility-Scale Battery Storage

The Clean Energy Solutions Center, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is hosting a no-cost webinar titled "Utility-Scale Battery Storage: When, Where, Why and How Much". The webinar was held on 27 February 2019, 9:00 p.m. EST.

Increasing need for system flexibility combined with rapid decreases in the system costs for battery technology have increased interest from policymakers and system operators about the potential role of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in power systems. BESS can perform a range of grid system services and can provide value to the power system through various applications, including transmission and distribution upgrade deferral, energy arbitrage, black starts, demand shifting, capacity firming and reductions in the curtailment of variable renewable energy. However, the value of BESS for system operators or project developers is location-specific and depends on many factors, including penetration levels of renewable energy, existing system flexibility and the regulatory context under which the BESS is deployed. This webinar will introduce key concepts for understanding the value of BESS, review the services they can provide to the grid, and explore when, where, why and how BESS can be deployed economically.

The webinar will be presented by Paul Denholm from NREL. It will be followed by an interactive question and answer session with the audience, moderated by Jennifer Leisch from USAID.