The economics of large-scale wind solar and energy storage projects

Why is wind-only system without energy storage a profitable investment?

Under the current technical, economic, and financing environment, wind-only system without energy storage is the most economic and profitable investment. This is due to the avoidance of energy storage costs, energy losses due to round-trip efficiency, and receiving CfD payments.

How is energy stored in a wind system?

The wind system with energy storage can either sell to the grid at the CfD price or store the energy. If there is available storage space, then the energy is stored first. If there is no space, then the energy is sold through the CfD

What is a non-Gies energy storage project?

Non-GIES are increasingly popular with 3 GW installed worldwide as of 2018 [ 20 ]. Some of the largest grid-scale energy storage projects for renewables with batteries include the Alamitos Energy Storage Array and the Kingfisher Project (Stage 2), having a rated capacity at 100 MW and 400 MWh, respectively [ 21 ].

Is it profitable to provide energy-storage solutions to commercial customers?

The model shows that it is already profitable to provide energy-storage solutions to a subset of commercial customers in each of the four most important applications—demand-charge management, grid-scale renewable power, small-scale solar-plus storage, and frequency regulation.

What are the challenges with solar space heating economics?

ses simple proven technologies. challenge with solar space heating economics is that monthly demand and supply are almost exactly opposite: the greatest demand is in winter, when there is the least supply of sun, and the most sunshine occurs in summer when de

Why does energy storage cost more than non-Gies?

With energy storage, there are energy losses due to the round-trip efficiency which contributes to the loss of revenue [ 31, 77 ]. The LCOE for GIES is higher than non-GIES. This is due to a lower efficiency (i.e. energy output) for thermal energy storage, although the capital cost is lower.