To effectively reach ESS stakeholders that may be interested in learning about valuation models, this report draws from publicly available tools developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and frames their functionalities and capabilities within the context of three distinct use case families.
Although academic analysis finds that business models for energy storage are largely unprofitable, annual deployment of storage capacity is globally on the rise (IEA, 2020). One reason may be generous subsidy support and non-financial drivers like a first-mover advantage (Wood Mackenzie, 2019).
Building upon both strands of work, we propose to characterize business models of energy storage as the combination of an application of storage with the revenue stream earned from the operation and the market role of the investor.
How can energy storage be profitable?
Where a profitable application of energy storage requires saving of costs or deferral of investments, direct mechanisms, such as subsidies and rebates, will be effective. For applications dependent on price arbitrage, the existence and access to variable market prices are essential.
Energy storage can participate in wholesale energy, ancillary, and capacity markets to generate revenue for storage owners. It can also be used by load serving entities for load management and thereby reduce the cost for procuring electricity and various capacity reservations in power markets.
Why should you invest in energy storage?
Investment in energy storage can enable them to meet the contracted amount of electricity more accurately and avoid penalties charged for deviations. Revenue streams are decisive to distinguish business models when one application applies to the same market role multiple times.
The DOE energy storage valuation tools are valuable for industry, regulators, and other stakeholders to model, optimize, and evaluate different ESSs in a variety of use cases. There are numerous similarities and differences among these tools.