Solutions Engineer Enel X Bosotn, Massachusetts, United States
Pairing battery storage with solar can unlock more benefits than just solar alone. By integrating storage, businesses can: (1) boost sustainability by maximizing self-consumption from solar; (2) improve energy spend by unlocking peak shaving capabilities and earning revenue from new programs and value streams; and (3) provide resiliency and supply power to businesses, when paired with additional islanding controls. But optimizing a dispatch strategy that considers all these value streams, and the opportunity costs of participating in any of them, is incredibly challenging.
In the poster, we present a case study on how the ideal battery operator can overcome these challenges with fit-for-purpose dispatch optimization software and extensive market expertise and experience participating in wholesale energy markets. In the case study, the battery storage system maximizes value to a school campus in Massachusetts by: (1) storing generated solar energy for use later in the day; (2) reducing energy usage at times of system peak to decrease the campus’ exposure to high demand charges; and (3) discharging energy during demand response (DR) events to earn DR payments to the campus. This sort of optimized dispatch results in significant financial benefits to the customer – in this case, lowering the payback period to 5-6 years!
