battery storage

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    R1 and L1 revving up the BESS revenues

    In our ‘The VFF… Very Fast and Financially rewarding market so far’ Chart of the week, the two new contingency markets, the Very Fast raise contingency FCAS market and the Very Fast lower contingency FCAS, were analysed and demonstrated the high participation of big batteries along with VPPs and DERs....

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Spread your wings and arbitrage away as Q2 sees ‘the spread’ increase

    The focus of batteries is constantly adjusting to reflect ‘where the money is at’. Various quarters have trends, and others have events that swing momentum. With FCAS enablement in Q2 this year dropping to some of the lowest values since 2016, shifting the solar curve, or rather arbitrage, became the...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Polarisation of wholesale spot prices leads to opportunity for arbitrage services

    Over the last five financial years, South Australia has seen a significant increase in price volatility, with substantial portions of time both negative and above $250/MWh, leading to increasing opportunities for storage systems to provide arbitrage services. A number of events initiated the reduction in wholesale energy prices between $50/MWh...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Proposed changes to PFR and the impact on battery operations

    On 3 August, at the request of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) initiated a rule change request proposing to “clarify the mandatory primary frequency response (PFR) obligations of scheduled bidirectional plant (i.e. batteries with a capacity of 5MW and greater)”. One of the...

  • Low carbon generation

    Putting the National in NEM

    The Australia-Asia power line proposed by Sun Cable will connect a 17-20GW capacity solar plant to Darwin with an 800km High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line, which then connects to Singapore via a 4,500km HVDC transmission subsea cable (Australia-Asia-powerlink). Expected to be operational by 2027, the $35 billion project has...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    How much ‘annuity’ do you need under LTESA?

    The NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap’s second competitive tender round for firming infrastructure commenced on 3 April 2023. This second round is focused on supporting LTESA firming supply proponents, where ‘the LTES Operator will have the option to access a capped annuity payment as a top-up to the operating revenues of...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Operating in a vicious cycle

    When project developers evaluate the potential profits for a new battery project in the NEM, one key variable being considered is the maximum allowable cycling rate of the battery. Cycling at higher rates can enable more arbitrage profits to be earned, but every MWh of energy that passes through the...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    How does thermal storage stack up compared to batteries?

    Along with the retirement of coal/gas power plants in the NEM, long-duration energy storage systems (LDESS), often exceeding 8 hours of storage, are becoming more crucial in transitioning to a more sustainable and renewable energy future. LDESS technologies, such as battery storage systems (BESS), thermal energy storage systems (TESS), compressed...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Exploring the impact of storage assets on QEJP sensitivities

    Battery storage has great potential to generate high revenues during large market shifts, especially in Queensland (as shown in our previous analysis in Cotw #158). The Queensland government’s recently announced Energy and Jobs Plan (QEJP) would be another big shift as it aims to reduce the state’s reliance on generation...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Out with the old, in with the new: T-4 Capacity Market clears at record price

    On 21 February, the T-4 Capacity Market auction for Delivery Year 2026-27 cleared at a record high price of £63.00/kW/year, procuring 43,000.955MW of capacity. In this week’s 'Chart of the week', we explore the key takeaways from the auction.

  • Commercial and market outlook

    “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza”: but maybe not as big as we think?…

    There has been talk for years about the potential introduction into the National Electricity Market of a “capacity market”, with significant pushback from the industry over the potential for a capacity market to prolong the life of coal and gas and slow decarbonisation of the grid. On Friday last week...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Christmas comes early for South Australian battery owners

    The choice of Chart of the week was an easy one following Saturday’s storms that ‘reined’ down on South Australia. The state became isolated from the rest of the National Electricity Market after one of ElectraNet’s pylons, supporting the interconnector between SA and Victoria, was knocked down[1].   The consequence...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    State of Storage: Investigating battery profit for NEM states

    It has been an interesting year for Australian energy markets, facing unprecedentedly high energy prices, coal outages, and market suspension. In today’s Chart of the week, we will investigate the impact a BESS would have made during FY 2022. Using Cornwall Insight Australia’s battery simulation model, we simulated a stand-alone...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Now we’re peaking with gas: how much evening NEM demand could be replaced with batteries?

    The events leading up to the recent market suspension in June have highlighted the role that peaking gas-fired generation plays in satisfying demand and setting prices across the NEM in the morning and evening peak periods. The team recently explored some of the drivers and effects of these events in...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    “Each day looking for new ways to go on”: could a renewable capacity market assist hydrogen turbines?

    The rise of renewables has seen the need for additional firming capacity in order to smooth renewable output and replace coal capacity in the evening peak. The ESB and federal Ministers are currently in discussions regarding the development (or not) of a capacity market for the NEM. Interestingly from the...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Do batteries add viability to electrolysers within the current market?

    Last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that there will be a gas shortfall in the east coast market in 2023, not a surprise considering the international gas crisis and high gas prices in Australia. Such events have increased attention towards expanding gas supply or reducing the...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    T-4 Capacity Market Results: New build battery storage leads the way

    On 22 February 2022, the T-4 Capacity Market (CM) auction for Delivery Year 2025-26 cleared at £30.59/kW/year. This was the highest ever clearing price in a T-4 GB CM auction and followed the T-1 auction for 2022-23, which cleared at the highest ever GB CM price of £75/kW on 15...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Seasonal frequency in the NEM: is VRE continuing to drive it?

    Frequency control remains a challenge for AEMO. New PFR (primary frequency response) provisions established in March 2020 will help AEMO to control frequency more efficiently. However, is it yet to be seen how market participants will be incentivised to participate in PFR market. In light of the rapid growth of...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    A look into Battery fires (Risk and mitigation)

    Most people have multiple devices powered by a lithium-ion battery (LIB), which can be found in almost every portable device (e.g. smartphones, laptops etc). However, due to the small battery size in these devices, they are relatively simple to control. LIB deployment at utility scale in the energy market, however,...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Round and Round the Market: Black Coal vs Batteries

    This year appears to be the year of the battery, with the volume of projects that have been announced or in some stage of planning approaching the 10GW mark it is worth taking a look at how batteries are performing in the FCAS markets over the last two years. Currently...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Chart of the week | Wider Access: BM sees annual increase in smaller participants

    In recent years National Grid ESO’s Wider Access programme has rolled out several measures to support the entry of smaller and non-traditional participants into the Balancing Mechanism (BM). This 'Chart of the week' looks at the level of new entry into the BM over the past year. Specifically, it looks...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Yesterday, [battery storage] was such an easy game to play

    FCAS continues to drive the majority of revenues for battery storage in the NEM (there are five active utility-scale battery storage projects operating in the NEM; three in SA and two in VIC), however given the forecast pipeline of prospective storage projects (with two 500MW+ projects having already been announced...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | I can’t believe it’s not b[e]tter?… spreads getting better in NSW

    The Federal Government announced this week that they will step into the electricity market (through the state-owned Snowy Hydro) to build up to 1,000MW of gas-fired generation to fill the gap left by the Liddell Power station for the 2023-24 summer unless the market can demonstrate final investment on dispatchable...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | VNI West RIT-T: another route-to-market for battery storage?

    Over the last week, we have been reading through stakeholder submissions to the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (RIT-T) Project Specification Consultation Report (PSCR). For the most part, the submissions were in support of options 7 and 6 (Figure 1). However,...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Distribution networks unDER the pump

    Rooftop solar has grown rapidly over the last decade, numbers indicate that almost 10GW has been installed across the NEM. However, AEMO’s projections indicate that there is still plenty more to come (~4GW over the next decade). The effects of behind-the-meter (BTM) solar on market outcomes are well documented (including...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Guess who’s back… Batteries are back… back again

    We have seen a number of Australian storage projects announced over the past four months. AGL has announced 200MW of storage with Maoneng and a further 100MW in Queensland. Neoen has also announced an upgrade to the Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR) by another 50MW. This week's Chart of the week is an update...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Pixie Chart of the week | CAISO investigates battery energy storage

    On 3 December 2019, CAISO presented its learnings when investigating the potential to use batteries to bridge the gap between peak solar generation and peak demand. In this week’s Pixie Chart of the Week, we take a look at load, net and generation vs Real Time Daily (RTD) prices in the Californian...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Where in the market are battery storage revenues?

    Storage is seen as a technology that will solve many of the issues on the grid. This includes providing peaking energy, correcting frequency events and providing network support. In this Chart of the week, we take a look at four battery storage systems currently active in the NEM. These are...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Pixie Chart of the week | NYISO forecasts extensive growth in battery storage

    The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has released its publication, Reliability and a Greener Grid – Power Trends 2019, outlining the potential network developments in the New York region. NYISO forecasts that wholesale energy storage and behind the meter (BTM) energy storage capacity growth will accelerate over the coming decades. The...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Chart of the week | FFR tender results surprises

    On 16 October, National Grid ESO published its monthly tender results for the Firm Frequency Response (FFR) service. Stiff competition from participants, including battery storage projects and the influx of aggregators, have led to an oversupplied service. This has seen the prices realised fall and stagnate. This week look into...