BESS

  • 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

    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...

  • 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...

  • 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

    Why invest in batteries?

    Batteries currently participate in the wholesale arbitrage and FCAS services (contingency and regulation). However, a lack of clarity in policies and regulations specific to batteries create uncertainties for investors. The key challenge is to determine and capture all possible battery value streams (current and future services). Stacked value streams increase...

  • 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

    A look into large-scale battery market revenues FY20-21

    This Chart of the week examines the distribution of daily battery revenue that was generated in FY21 for the batteries operating in the NEM over this time frame. Net Energy revenue is calculated as the revenue generated in the energy markets less cost of charging plus any revenue earnt from...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Slip slidin’ away, You know the nearer your destination

    In our previous ‘Chart of the week’ back in November 2020 (Issue 61), we looked at the projected uptake of battery storage projects in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Nine months on, with a number of large projects announced, we felt it was worth an update. In our last chart,...