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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Updated cost estimate and benefit analysis of customer-owned battery energy storage

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5798466

Previous phases of EPRI Research Project 1275-12 have shown that, for appropriate load demand situations, commercially available battery systems can be an economically and technically viable approach to load management, providing benefits to both electric utilities and their customers. Phase I (reported in EPRI EM-2769) estimated equipment costs and economic feasibility of generically defined systems. Phase II (EPRI EM-3535) determined economic benefits for sixteen specific utility customer applications. The results of a third phase of the project are presented. Phase I equipment, balance-of-plant (BOP) and operating costs have been refined and a simplified method of estimating economic benefit for specific customer applications is developed. The refined costs and benefit analysis method were based on a relatively detailed conceptual engineering design and cost analysis of a 500 kWh/500 kW lead-acid battery storage plant. Comparison of Phase III costs with the initial Phase I cost estimates indicates that while estimated battery costs have decreased, estimated converter and BOP costs have increased. Maintenance costs are also larger than initially estimated. Although overall estimated system costs have increased over initial estimates, customer-side battery storage plants remain economically attractive for many customer load profiles and existing utility rate structures. A standardized plant design with substantially reduced footprint, to be investigated in Phase IV of the project, would reduce costs and make even more attractive the use of batteries as a load-management tool.

Research Organization:
Bechtel Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
5798466
Report Number(s):
EPRI-EM-3872; ON: TI85920552
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English