Energy Storage Monitor

Latest trends in energy storage | 2019

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ABOUT THE FUTURE ENERGY LEADERS -FEL- ABOUT THE ENERGY STORAGE MONITOR
100
Energy storage will be instrumental in the grand energy
The World Energy Council’s Future Energy Leaders’ transition. This paper is designed to give an overview of
Programme – the FEL-100 – is a global and diverse the current uptake of storage technologies and future
network of young energy professionals. The programme opportunities and challenges.
serves as a platform for engaging a limited number of
ambitious young professionals in national, regional and ABOUT THE WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL
international activities and events. Its objective is to
inspire participants to become the next generation of The World Energy Council is the principal impartial
energy leaders capable of solving the world’s most network of energy leaders and practitioners promoting
pressing challenges regarding energy and sustainability. an affordable, stable and environmentally sensitive
Through the programme, Future Energy Leaders can energy system for the greatest benefit of all.
further their experience, knowledge and skills in an
energy-focused environment and contribute to the Formed in 1923, the Council is the UN-accredited global
Council’s global dialogue. FEL-100 participants are energy body, representing the entire energy spectrum,
provided with the unique opportunity to create their own with over 3,000 member organisations in over 90
personal networks of like-minded, equally motivated countries, drawn from governments, private and state
personalities today, and together become the energy corporations, academia, NGOs and energy
leaders of tomorrow. stakeholders. We inform global, regional and national
Further details at https://www.worldenergy.org/impact- energy strategies by hosting high-level events including
communities/future-energy-leaders the World Energy Congress and publishing authoritative
studies, and work through our extensive member
network to facilitate the world’s energy policy dialogue.
Copyright © 2019 Future Energy Leaders- Market of
Ideas- Environmental Issues- All rights reserved. All or
part of this publication may be used or reproduced as Further details at www.worldenergy.org
long as the following citation is included on each copy or and @WECouncil, @WECFELs
transmission: ‘Used by permission of Future Energy
Leaders- Market of Ideas-Energy Storage Monitor
Team’.
Front cover image: Moixa

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary 3
Key Findings 4

CHAPTER 1: 5

THE ROLE OF STORAGE IN ENERGY TRANSITION 5

1. Role of storage in energy transition 6
2. Market Overview 6

CHAPTER 2: 8

ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES: CHARACTERISTICS 8

AND APPLICATIONS 8
1. Range of services 9
2. Comparison of Selected Technical and Operational Parameters 10

CHAPTER 3: 12

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS 12

1. Cost Trends 13
2. Cost Comparison and Forecast 13
3. Available financial tools 14

CHAPTER 4: 15

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK 15
1. Key enablers for energy storage 16
2. Regulatory and policy considerations 16
3. Financing mechanisms 19

CONCLUSIONS 22
Findings and Recommendations 23
List of Tables and Figures 24
References 25
Acknolegments 28
World Energy Council Conctributors 28
Project Team 29

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Energy Storage Monitor (ESM) is a project launched under the Market of Ideas (MoI) initiative within the Future
Energy Leaders programme. The programme had the following objectives:
1. Help policy makers and market participants to have the tools to track and understand this rapidly changing
capability;
2. Identify the range of storage types and applications that are evolving in the market place;
3. Provide insights into global trends through reviewing financial tools and gaining opinions from experts and
case studies;
4. Present a comprehensive overview of the latest energy storage market trends, services, technical and
financial characteristics of technologies, and existing enabling policies;
5. Provide an overview of the latest innovative financing models deployed worldwide supporting the
deployment of energy storage projects.

The role of energy storage in energy transition is instrumental and it informs policies and regulatory reform
processes in supporting large scale deployments.

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KEY FINDINGS
Role of Storage

 Energy storage provides valuable services to all stakeholders across the value chain;
 Energy storage is key for unlocking intermittency of renewables and enabling the grand transition;
 Energy storage needs to be considered as part of energy flexibility in general and planned as part of
distributed energy resources (DER). Even if energy storage will always be the more expensive option, it is
important to consider energy storage holistically alongside energy flexibility options in general;
 Flexibility: With an increasing thrust towards renewable integration across the globe, energy storage has
the potential to manage demand and supply dynamics;
 Efficiency: Pairing energy storage with the right assets can significantly reduce delivery losses. For
instance, combined heat and power (CHP) systems can increase system efficiency by nearly 50% by
including energy storage and allowing the system to run at optimal capacity to charge the battery;
 Resilience: Energy storage applications like black start facilities enable the maintenance of critical
functions leading to quick recovery.

Important Market Trends

 Energy storage is growing rapidly globally. Falling costs and new deployment incentives are fuelling record
investments in energy storage. Depending on the application, there is a 74% decline in costs since 2013
and these are projected to continue to decline at a steady 8% per year through the mid-2020s (Ken
Silverstein, 2019);
 Energy storage ownership is an important option for electric companies. The adoption of short-term energy
storage technologies is mainly increasing in developed countries.

Market Enablers
 Costs and multiple applications/capabilities – High costs of electricity, decreasing costs of storage systems
and multiple possible uses of cases and applications;
 Regulatory frameworks and incentives are key to stimulating and enabling storage to manifest – especially
when looking to unlock potential in multiple markets;
 Learning by doing – deployment of storage creates opportunity for learning and helps in providing diverse
solutions (Janice Lin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strategen & Co-founder, Global Energy
Storage Alliance (GESA));
 Objectivity – an objective analysis and study of the value and benefits of energy storage application is
imperative to cut through barriers;
 Stakeholder value – creating goals for all stakeholders across the value chains;
 Energy management – awareness of new technology and aligning procurement accordingly.

Challenges and Barriers

Prominent barriers to storage deployment can be traced to the speed in which the market for storage technologies
and their applications are evolving and to the multiplicity and flexibility of storage. Some of the key challenges that
need to be addressed are:
 Perception on performance and safety: Grid operators have to be confident that energy storage
systems will perform as intended within the larger network. Advanced modelling and simulation tools can
facilitate acceptance — particularly if they are compatible with utility software;
 Cost-Effectiveness: Actual energy storage technology contributes around 30%- 40% to the total system
cost; the remainder is attributed to auxiliary technologies, engineering, integration, and other services;
 Regulatory and market guidelines: It is critical to remove the rules that are distorting the market and/or
crippling investment. Energy storage systems provide different functions to their owners and the grid at
large, often leading to uncertainty as to the applicable regulations for a given project. Regulatory
uncertainty poses an investment risk and dissuades adoption;
 Co-operation from multiple stakeholders: Energy storage investments require broad cooperation
among electric utilities, facility and technology owners, investors, project developers, and insurers. Each
stakeholder offers a different perspective with distinct concerns.

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Chapter 1:
The Role of
Storage in Energy
Transition

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1. ROLE OF STORAGE IN ENERGY TRANSITION

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris set the framework for a rapid global shift to a
sustainable energy system in order to avoid the risk of catastrophic climate change. The challenge for governments
has shifted from discussing what might be achieved to determining how to meet collective goals for a sustainable
energy system. Given the sharp and often rapid decline of renewable power generation technologies costs in recent
years, the electricity sector has made concrete progress on decarbonisation (IRENA, 2017). Energy storage has
been a key component to enabling the grand transition and continues to gain momentum globally (World Energy
Council, 2016). The transformation of power networks, pushed by the electrification of energy systems, requires
additional energy storage capacity to address new flexibility needs of electric grids (A.T. Kearney, 2018).

As energy systems transition to rely more on renewables and less on fossil fuels, we will also need to increase the
capacity of energy storage. This is because most renewable energy resources provide an intermittent supply which
can be at odds with demand. As a result, renewable installations paired with energy storage are expected to
continue to well into the future (Wilson, 2018; IRENA, 2017).

For renewable integration and energy storage to succeed, energy markets need to shift their strategies. The
flexibility that storage provides to energy networks and service providers will drastically change the ways in which
energy is provided in the future. For example, customers will become less reliant on stable and secure electricity
supply if they are able to store backup energy in their homes. As energy generation and storage solutions become
more easily accessible to customers, so will the opportunities to participate and shape the wider energy system. To
meet global decarbonisation targets, energy storage needs to be included as part of the wider energy system. As
the rapid uptake of renewable energy drives down costs through scale and innovation, so must the energy storage
(World Energy Council, 2016)

2. MARKET OVERVIEW
Installed capacity of energy storage is continuing to increase globally at an exponential rate. Global capacity
doubled between 2017 and 2018 to 8 GWh (IEA, 2018). Pumped hydro storage still makes up for the bulk of energy
storage capacity accounting for 96.2% of the worldwide storage capacity. The electro-chemical storage (batteries)
follows with the most potential. Massive potential also exists for electro-mechanical storage such as flywheels.
However, it needs to be developed further (TAWAKI, 2018).

Figure 1 Global installed energy storage capacity behind and

In-front-of-the-meter by country (IEA, 2019)

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Last year, South Korea’s installed energy storage capacity grew to be the largest of any single nation (excluding
those with pumped hydro) (IEA, 2019). The large regulatory reform and incentives both in front and behind the
meter have been cited as being a large driver for the uptake in energy storage in this area (Byuk-Keun Jo, 2019).
However, the rapid uptake has not developed without some issues, with a number of storage related fires occurring,
potentially due to hasty installations and relaxed oversight (IEA, 2019) .

The World Energy Council projected that there could be as much as 250 GW of energy storage installed by 2030
(World Energy Council, 2016). Indeed, the market for energy storage is growing at a rapid rate, driven by declining
prices and supportive government policies (Eric Hittinger and Eric Williams, 2018). Furthermore, by 2030, the
installed costs of battery storage systems could fall by 50-66% (IRENA, 2017). In fact, a Greentech Media (GTM)
Research report suggested that the cost of energy storage systems will reduce by an annual rate of 8% until 2022
(EESI, 2019).

Behind-the-meter energy storage has now taken over the installed capacity of utility scale storage with the largest
growth seen in Korea, Australia, Japan, and Germany (IEA, 2019). It is expected that 70% of all renewable
generation installed behind-the-meter will be paired with some level of energy storage over the next decade (Wilson,
2018). Energy storage is improving the ability for customers to consume more of the energy they are producing
from distributed generation which in turn is improving the return on investment (Deloitte, 2015). As incumbent
distributers move towards more cost-reflective pricing and potential feed-in tariffs, this may further improve the
business case for pairing energy storage with behind-the-meter generation (Wilson, 2018).

Figure 2 Technology Mix in Storage Installations, excluding Pumped Hydro (IEA, 2019)

In terms of technology mix in energy storage installations, IEA shows in its 2019 publication that lithium-ion batteries
dominate among all storage technologies excluding pumped hydro through the year 2016 (see Figure 2). This was
paired with a sharp decline in the number of flywheel installations after having a share of around 25% in 2012. The
prevailing lead-based batteries have also decreased dramatically in market share from 40% in 2011 to 5% in 2018.

Despite rapidly falling costs, energy storage systems remain expensive and the significant upfront investment
required is difficult to overcome without governmental support and/or facilitated financing schemes (ESMAP, 2017).
Ultimately, the future is bright for both renewables and energy storage. Together, the two are proving to be a
powerful combination in the global energy market. Industry growth, access to new markets, and continued
regulatory reform will help to make stored power highly competitive (IRENA, 2017).

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Chapter 2:
Energy Storage
Technologies:
Characteristics
and Applications

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1. RANGE OF SERVICES
Whilst the specific drivers that develop energy storage markets vary by region and market, the overarching goal of
energy storage has been to make the electricity grid more efficient, resilient, secure, cost-effective, and sustainable.
Table 1 below represents the main energy storage market segments, while Table 2 represents the common
services within each segment.

Table 1 Energy Storage Market Segments (ESMAP, 2017)

Segment Description
In-front-of-the-meter or Refers to systems installed on transmission or distribution networks providing
Utility-scale services to grid operators or microgrids.
Behind-the-meter or Refers to systems installed on the customer side of a utility meter and primarily help
End-user scale reduce costs and improve resiliency for commercial and industrial, or residential
customers.

Table 2 Energy Storage Services per Segment (FEL 100 - Energy Storage Monitor Team, 2018)

Segment Services Use Case/Application

Bulk Energy Services Arbitrage
Electric supply capacity
In-front-of-the-meter (Utility Scale)

Peak shaving
Ancillary Services Frequency regulation
Voltage support
Black start
Spinning reserves
Non-spinning reserves
Load following, load balancing
Grid Support (T&D) Transmission services (upgrade deferral and congestion relief)
Distribution services (upgrade deferral and voltage support)
Peaker replacement
Renewable Energy Renewable energy time shift
Integration Renewable capacity firming
Renewable energy grid integration
Behind-the-meter
(End-user Scale)

Customer Energy Power quality and reliability

Management Services Bill Management
Demand shift
Peak shaving
Increased PV self-consumption
Stand-alone systems

Utility scale installations have generally focused on reducing network congestion during peak demands, which
has helped extend the life of assets and improve the systems’ resilience. As renewables become more prevalent
on distributed networks and production more localised, smarter controlling and market mechanisms are evolving
to enable energy storage to offer ancillary services which improve reliability of supply (Deloitte, 2015).

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Figure 3 Growth in Energy Storage Applications by Use Case (IRENA, 2017)

Figure 3 above shows the projected growth in energy storage applications by use case to 2030. IRENA also projects
that end users could become the largest users of energy storage, with much of the value and investment occurring
behind-the-meter.

2. COMPARISON OF SELECTED TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL

PARAMETERS
Energy storage systems provide a wide array of technological approaches for managing power supply in order to
create a more resilient energy infrastructure and bring cost savings to utilities and consumers. The energy storage
systems are classified into mechanical, electrochemical, chemical, electrical, and thermal (IEC, 2011)

Figure 4 Categorisation of Electricity Storage Systems (World Energy Council, 2016)

 ENERGY STORAGE MONIT OR (ESM)

Some of the main energy storage technologies currently being deployed around the world are (Energy Storage
Association, 2019):
 Solid State Batteries - a range of electrochemical storage solutions, including advanced chemistry
batteries and capacitors;
 Flow Batteries - batteries where the energy is stored directly in the electrolyte solution for longer cycle life,
and quick response times;
 Flywheels - mechanical devices that harness rotational energy to deliver instantaneous electricity;
 Compressed Air Energy Storage - utilising compressed air to create a potent energy reserve;
 Thermal - capturing heat and cold to create energy on demand;
 Pumped Hydro-Power - creating large-scale reservoirs of energy with water.

Table 3 below describes the major characteristics and operational parameters of the available energy storage
technologies around the world. As for Figure 6, it shows the energy storage technologies by needed discharge
duration and maps the technologies available energy storage segments and services.

Table 3 Major Energy Storage Characteristics by Technology (Deloitte, 2015)

Figure 5 Mapping Electricity Storage Technologies to Storage Services

According to the Discharge Duration (World Energy Council, 2016)

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Chapter 3:
Economic
Analysis of Energy
Storage Systems
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1. COST TRENDS
Low-cost energy storage is the missing link in the transition to a 100% renewable national electricity market (World
Energy Council, 2016). One approach to this has been to stimulate the development of energy storage markets
through regulatory reforms and to subsequently reduce costs through efficiencies of scale and increased
competition. During the past five years, several factors have caused the costs of energy storage systems to drop
across the board. Global demand for consumer electronics and electric vehicles spurred investments in battery-
pack manufacturing (McKinsey & Company, 2019).

Meanwhile, other hardware such as inverters, containers, and climate-control equipment also became cheaper. In
addition, “soft” costs (customer acquisition, permitting, and interconnection, among others), as well as engineering,
procurement, and construction (EPC) declined as companies gained experience and streamlined their processes.
The cost of a utility-scale system has been declining by more than 20% per year, mostly due to falling balance of
systes components’ (BOS) costs. The component-by-component analysis of further cost-improvement opportunities
suggests that the costs of energy storage systems will continue their rapid decline, with some variations by type of
system (McKinsey & Company, 2018).

The long-term cost of supplying grid electricity from today’s lithium-ion batteries is falling even faster than expected,
making them an increasingly cost-competitive alternative to natural-gas-fired power plants across several key
energy markets (BNEF, 2019) . Annual revenue from energy storage tied to utility-scale wind and solar is expected
to reach $9.6 billion by 2026. However, revenue for behind-the-meter installations, is expected to surpass $13 billion
in the same timeframe (Wilson, 2018). Despite these rapidly falling costs, energy storage systems still remain
expensive and the significant upfront investment required is difficult to overcome without government support and/or
low-cost financing (ESMAP, 2017).

2. COST COMPARISON AND FORECAST

It is important to consider both the Table 4 Energy Installation Cost (USD/kWh) per Storage Type,
installed cost and full life cycle p (IRENA, 2017)
otential of energy storage over its
lifespan. Table 4 shows the
installation cost of a number of
energy storage types and highlights
the low cost of pumped storage (21
USD/kWh), followed by CAES
systems (53 USD/kWh). Electro-
chemical storage like Lithium-Ion is
still more expensive to install but it is
more efficient at storing and releasing
energy, opening it up to a wider range
of potential applications. The cost of
Lithium-Ion has also been decreasing
at the fastest rate. Lazards (2018)
analysis suggests that energy
storage solutions which have a
broader range of potential services
will become the most prevalent in the
future. Under similar assumptions,
IRENA (2017) anticipates that
advanced forms of Li-ion like LTO
could see the greatest reduction in
cost with alongside potential for cycle
life (Figure 8).

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Figure 6 Energy Installation Cost (USD/kWh) per Storage Type, (IRENA, 2017)

3. AVAILABLE FINANCIAL TOOLS

The levelised cost of energy storage is a methodology which considers the full amount of energy a storage
solution can hold and discharge over its lifespan (LCOS). The way in which this is calculated can differ
depending of the type of service the energy storage solution is providing. To help practitioners and policy
makers navigate this complexity, a number of tools have been developed by various organisations and are
presented in Table 5.

Table 5 A selection of Available Energy Storage Financial Tools

Name Description
BLAST “Behind-the-Meter Applications Lite Tool developed by NREL provides a quick, user-
friendly tool to size behind-the-meter energy storage devices used on site by utility
customers for facility demand charge management. The tool employs simplified
battery performance models for computational efficiency, and it includes a built-in
algorithm to identify cost-optimal energy storage configurations” (NREL, 2019).
ESCT “The Energy Storage Computational Tool (ESCT): this tool is used for identifying,
quantifying, and monetising the benefits of grid-connected energy storage projects to
calculate the net present value over the system lifetime” (Energy, 2019).
ES-Select™ “ES-Select™ Tool: the ES-Select™ Tool aims to improve the understanding of
Tool different electrical energy storage technologies and their feasibility for intended
applications in a simple, visually comparative form. It treats the uncertainties in
technical and financial parameters as statistical distributions” (ES-Select™ Tool,
2019).
StorageVET® “EPRI’s Storage Value Estimation Tool, or StorageVET®. This new web-based
software models the value of services that storage projects can provide to the grid and
utility customers. Services include infrastructure investment deferral, peak system load
management, frequency regulation, energy price arbitrage, customer demand-charge
management, backup power, and many others. The tool can be applied internationally”
(Cassandra Sweet, 2018).

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Chapter 4:
Regulatory
Framework

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1. KEY ENABLERS FOR ENERGY STORAGE

It is widely recognised that energy storage projects have unique risks in terms of regulatory barriers, unprepared
market structures, liability exposure and non-traceability of performance. Energy storage will be needed for a host
of services including ancillary services, Demand Response, battery storage, efficient management of the grid, along
with others, which are necessary for the stabilisation of the grid as renewable energy integration increases.
Figure 9 shows the potential areas that may provide a balance between requisite improvements and viable
investments whilst at the same time securing integration of energy storage in real-time grid operation and
load/demand planning criteria.

Innovation in preparation
Indigenous manufacturing
and dissemination of data Business models to phase
for increased
for enhanced transparency out capital investments
competitiveness
and participation

Figure 7 Enabling factors for increased deployment of storage

2. REGULATORY AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

Regulators are critical to the advancement of markets and the facilitation of advanced energy systems adoption.
To facilitate collaborative and feasible stakeholder interactions across the value chain, we propose the following
deliberations.

Figure 8 Requirement for reforms in regulations and policy framework

With the continued integration of variable generation, transmission enhancements, changes to load behaviour,
increase in reserve requirement in the future and uncertainty on responsiveness of supply resources, there is a
clear requirement for increasing reserves.

Addressing adequacy of resources (access to enough power to be able to meet the highest expected level of
demand) and system quality (right mix of resource (consumers and generators) capabilities deployed to ensure that
demand and supply are always balanced), is essential to maintaining reliability of power at least-cost while the
power sector shifts from being dominated by conventional power to renewables.

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Some of the key benefits of utilising flexible resources

 Technical benefits – better response speed and ramp up time;
 Financial benefits – behind-the-meter or customer-focused solutions, including approaches to achieve and
monetise benefits across the electricity supply chain from new business models to technologies such as
energy storage, inverter controls or load control.

Introduction of new energy storage services will generate additional services along with incentivising participants
can introduce value-additions such as:
 Demand Response;
 Energy Storage as a service – revenue stacking;
 Ancillary Services;
 Vehicle to Grid.

Examples from across the globe

European Union (EU) – EU Legislation in Progress

The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) has removed barriers to markets that provide network
flexibility, including energy storage (CEER, 2019). The EU Commission also proposed a revised Electricity market
directive tackling the EU energy market design and opening up to energy storage recently. It brings stricter rules in
line with the EU objectives of security of supply and emission reduction (European Commission, 2019).
The proposed EU directive introduces an obligation for Member States to lay out provisions on electro-mobility and
energy storage. The new market design should provide technical and market conditions for energy storage,
including the introduction of smart grids and smart meters. Furthermore, when planning for network development,
transmission system operators (TSOs) must consider energy storage as an alternative to the expansion of the
network (Erbach, 2019).

India
The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) estimates that the market for energy storage will grow to over 300 GWh
in 2025 and will need an investment of $3 billion (Rs.22,000 crore). At present, over 1 GWh of annual assembling
capacity is being set up for converting imported Li-ion cells into battery modules by various Indian companies. The
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the key regulator of power in India’s report on spinning reserve,
estimate that the need for primary ancillary services will be around 4000 MW (Commission, Central Electricity
Regulatory, 2015) in the next 5 years, most of which could come from battery storage. This will result in a demand
of batteries of 300 GWh (Energy Storage News, 2019). Recent amendments brought about by CERC in the
‘Connectivity Regulations’ and the inauguration of the first grid-connected 10MW Battery energy storage project in
New Delhi, have drawn the attention of industries to energy storage systems in India and their imperative role in
the Indian context.
Additionally, India aims to electrify 30% of its total vehicle fleet by 2030. The development of less costly,
durable EV traction batteries, with improved energy storage, power performance and charging capabilities, is
essential for the successful transition towards e-mobility. The development of batteries for stationary
applications can benefit from automotive sector achievements. With the assumption that the average battery
storage in EVs is 17 kWh at present, rising to 30 kWh for cars, 2 kWh for two wheelers, 10 kWh for three
wheelers and 100 kWh for buses, the expected demand for batteries will be 200 GWh.

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India is taking a big leap by creating opportunities for energy storage sector especially in terms of
manufacturing, assembling, energy storage project developments, equipment supply, R&D of technology
enhancement, among others. Some of the important initiatives are:
 Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP): Investments in all 3 sectors could come with a condition for
PMP with a mandate that domestic content will increase over time to provide incentive to manufacture
batteries in India;
 Preferential Market Access (PMA): Ministry of Information Technology has issued guidelines for PMA of
up to 50% for domestically manufacturing electronic wafer and cells for all public procurement. A similar
guideline could be issued for all battery procurements. This would also encourage domestic manufacturing
of batteries in India.

United States of America (USA)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC’s) Order 841 directs all Regional Transmission Organisations
(RTO) and Independent System Operators (ISO) (RTO/ISO markets) to implement rules enabling energy storage
participation across:
 Wholesale energy markets;
 Capacity markets;
 Ancillary services markets.

Order 845 revises large generator interconnection process to include energy storage and encourage hybridisation
(Utility Dive, 2018):
 Allows interconnection service capacity to be less than the generating facility capacity;
 Enables surplus interconnection service to be used at existing points of interconnection.

United Kingdom (UK)

The Office of Gas and Electricity Market (Ofgem), the electricity regulator in UK, published the “Smart Systems and
Flexibility Plan” in 2017 and a recent update in October 2018 provides inputs on removing barriers for smart
technologies such as energy storage and creating a market for flexible resources. Some of the steps undertaken
as part of the intervention as listed below:
 Includes a definition of energy storage as a subset of the generation asset class;
 Adoption of single cash-outs for all imbalances in individual settlement periods. In contrast to the ongoing
dual-price method, this reform could increase cash-out prices and incentives for flexible capacity
investments, and hence potentially reward energy storage technologies;
 Modification of license changes ownership agreement to provide incentives and make energy storage
viable;
 National Grid’s Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) tender and the move to incorporate firm frequency
response needs of the system (Energy Storage News, 2018) - proper adaptation of product characteristics,
prequalification requirements and implementation of adaptive demand calculation for balancing energy
(tendering the balance energy demand) has created a market for providers whose services may be
otherwise not accessible.

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3. FINANCING MECHANISMS

Green energy finance allows for an increase in the adoption of green solutions and enhances technological
innovation. On top of that, it has grown at a rapid pace in recent years. Long-term investments in renewable energy
might require the involvement of governments in setting policies and regulatory frameworks, which would ensure
abiding to a durable sustainability environment. Governments play one of the most pivotal roles in steering the
transition to clean energy solutions, either by establishing the policy framework and necessary market regulations,
providing fiscal and financial incentives for private sector actors, or by directly investing governmental money into
clean energy projects.

The role of international agencies and donors remains pivotal when making the shift to an economy becoming less
and less reliant on fossil fuels. Their work has already started to target renewable energy investment in the previous
decade. Now that technical advancement in energy storage technologies is rapidly increasing, international actors
are working on adapting the scope of their initiative to support energy storage as a standalone technology or
combined with renewable energy generation.

The number of funding bodies available for energy storage projects supports the importance of storage
development in the energy sector. This section presents a collection of financing mechanisms designed or adapted
to serve energy storage projects. The schemes shown in Figure 11, were selected based on their innovativeness,
repeatability or their impact on facilitating the spread of energy storage projects, based on capacity installed, or the
number of projects implemented. For each type of financing models, one or two examples are selected. More
information about each financing scheme will follow.

Figure 9 A Selection of Financing Schemes Supporting the Development of Energy Storage

Loan Programs Office - USA

“The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) finances large-scale, all-of-the-above energy
infrastructure projects in the United States” (DOE, 2019). In August 2010, the Stephentown Spindle project
benefitted from a US$43 million loan guarantee under this scheme, restructured to US$25 million in 2012. The
Stephentown Spindle is a flywheel energy storage project in Stephentown, New York, consisting of 200 flywheels
used for grid stability improvement. The total capacity of the plant is 20 MW and it can support the frequency
regulation of the grid with immediate response (DOE, 2015).

Climate Bonds - Australia

Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which has been instrumental in helping deliver various clean
energy and environmental initiatives, decided to invest AU$10 million in a green bond issuance from financing
company FlexiGroup Limited, from a total of AU$90 million. This bond will be dedicated to support small-scale
energy storage projects, as well as rooftop solar projects, and is expected to boost the residential energy storage
market in the country (Colthorpe, Andy, 2019).

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Private Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing - USA

“Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, or PACE financing, is private capital available to building projects at a
low-cost using utility, water, or operations energy efficiencies” (PACE Equity, 2019). This scheme allows for
financing projects through a tax assessment lasting 20 to 25 years to repay the private capital used to fund the
projects. PACE can be used to finance energy storage projects; however, it cannot guarantee the profitability of the
project, beyond qualifying the contractor or EPC as being credible and compliant, leaving the risk resting on the
property owner (Hartley, 2018).

Scaling solar – World Bank Group (WBG)

The initiative started by focusing on solar power production, but in November 2018, “The World Bank Group
committed US$1 billion for a new global program to accelerate investments in battery storage for energy systems
in developing and middle-income countries” (World Bank Group, 2018). This initiative is expected to mobilise
another US$4 billion in concessional climate financing and public and private investments. The program targets to
finance 17.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery storage by 2025.

InnovFin – European Investment Bank Group

This initiative covers “a wide range of loans, guarantees and equity-type funding” (EIB, 2019). As part of this
initiative, the “InnovFin Energy Demonstration Projects provides loans, loan guarantees or equity-type financing
typically between € 7.5 million and € 75 million” to innovation projects such as those in energy storage. The financing
mechanism mainly targets demonstration projects with the aim to help bridge the gap from demonstration to
commercialisation (EIB, 2019).

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund

Established in 2018, the Gore Street Energy Storage Fund was the first fund of its nature to be listed on the London
Stock Exchange. It aims “to provide investors with a sustainable and attractive dividend over the long term by
investing in a diversified portfolio of utility scale energy storage projects primarily located in the UK, although the
Company will also consider projects in North America and Western Europe.” (Gore Street Energy Storage Fund
prospectus, 2018).
The fund has already invested in the following two operational projects, with many other in the pipeline:
 The Boubly project, in Cleveland (England, UK), with a total capacity of 6.0MW (100% owned by the fund)
 The Cenin project, in Bridgend (Wales, UK), with a total capacity of 4.0 MW (49% owned by the fund)
(Gore Street Energy Storage Fund, 2019).

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund

The second energy storage fund listed on the London Stock Exchange, the Gresham House Energy Storage Fund,
launched in the beginning of October 2018 and raised £100 million to be traded on the London Stock Exchange, as
of November 2018 (Energy Storage News, 2018).

The fund has already invested in five operational projects ranging between 7 and 20 MW, with a total capacity of
70 MW, and has a pipeline of another 132 MW to be acquired with exclusive assets, with individual capacities
ranging between 5 and 50 MW, to be commissioned in 2019 (Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, 2019).

SUSI Energy Storage Fund

SUSI partners, a Swiss-based investment management company specialising in sustainable investments, is seen
as a pioneer of energy storage funds after establishing the world’s first dedicated energy storage fund in 2017 (SUSI
Energy Storage Fund, 2019). The fund received “capital commitments of € 252 million from institutional investors
in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland at the end of May 2018” (Smart Energy
International, 2018).

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 ENERGY STORAGE MONIT OR (ESM)

Electric & Gas Industries Association (EGIA)

An example of this kind of cooperation initiatives come from the partnership between the EGIA and Adar Power, a
manufacturer of energy storage solutions for residential and commercial applications. The EGIA outlines five “EGIA-
furnished financing plans” (EGIA, 2019):
 The Renewable Express Loan Program is an unsecured financing program ideal for contractors who are
new to financing for amounts less than US$64,000 and a loan duration up to 12 years;
 PACE Financing can be used to finance Adara Residential Energy Storage systems as well and pays the
entire amount which can be returned over a period of 20 years or less;
 Benji Unsecured Financing can be used to finance loans up to US$50,000 and loan duration up to 10
years;
 Energy Wise Lease Program offers “commercial businesses leases for facility upgrades on terms of 7
years or less, with amounts ranging from US$20,000 to US$99,999.99 and competitive interest rates”
(EGIA, 2019);
 Commercial Financing Program can be used for commercial businesses to finance the Adara Commercial
Energy Storage System with loans amounts up to US$5,000,000 and a loan duration of up to 10 years.

RateSetter
Although the application is still not widespread, peer-to-peer lending is making its way to energy storage projects,
with the RateSetter platform agreeing to finance the sum of AU$100 million, “as part of the South Australian
government Home Battery Scheme, which has committed to granting 40,000 households in the state up to
AU$6,000 each in subsidies towards the purchase of batteries for use in home solar-plus-storage solutions”
(Colthorpe, Andy, 2018).

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 FEL-100 | 2019

Conclusions

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 ENERGY STORAGE MONIT OR (ESM)

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The global power sector is undergoing a major transformation and it necessitates energy storage as a pivotal player
to create a resilient and stable grid. Driving a partnership model to advocate conversations around energy storage
will provide the requisite thrust to come out with implementable and ground-breaking solutions.
It is also critical to note that this market is at the cusp of a lot of institutional deals. For energy storage to provide
more bankability and gain stronger amounts of financing, there is a need for projects to get financed by structural
finance like debt and equity rather than acquisitions by a financial equity along with exploring the potential of
scalable and replicable business models.
Some key lessons and take away from the ongoing projects across the globe as listed below:
 Direct support of energy storage through solid mandates policies and subsidies;
 Set clear regulations;
 Make energy storage part of ancillary services to reduce regulatory barriers;
 Account for energy storage as a key component for grid expansions (as per World Energy Council);
 Expand the energy storage market beyond governmental initiatives;
 Explore the best long-term energy storage technologies and further develop electro-mechanical storage
and batteries other than lithium-ion to compete in costs.

Modular smaller scale energy storage solutions are growing at a faster pace than utility scale. This may indicate
that mass market adoption of energy storage may be an area to consider more frequently.The capabilities of energy
storage are evolving rapidly and as this continues, the results for how we generate and distribute energy will be
significant. It is therefore paramount that energy storage is carefully monitored and considered as part of the entire
energy system and continuously adapted to evolving capabilities and pressures. Tools like the Global Energy
Storage Database show real promise in helping practitioners understand the changing capabilities across our global
energy system. However, some of these resources have not received enough ongoing maintenance to be
considered as useful as they should be. The IEA has taken a useful approach to monitoring energy storage amongst
energy flexibility, however the scale and complexity of energy storage in how it changes the capabilities of the
energy system are still lacking in many aspects.

The inherent value of creative disruption should not be undermined. By acknowledging the reality of ground level
implementation of energy storage projects along with transparency in adapting with the change in physical
structures all players will be encouraged to accelerate the deployment of energy storage whilst truly enabling less
with more energy.

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 FEL-100 | 2019

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figures
Figure 1 Global installed energy storage capacity behind and ........................................................................ 6
Figure 2 Technology Mix in Storage Installations, excluding Pumped Hydro (IEA, 2019) .............................. 7
Figure 3 Growth in Energy Storage Applications by Use Case (IRENA, 2017) ............................................. 10
Figure 4 Categorisation of Electricity Storage Systems (World Energy Council, 2016) ................................ 10
Figure 5 Map Electricity Storage Technologies to Storage Services According ............................................ 11
Figure 6 Energy Installation Cost (USD/kWh) per Storage Type, (IRENA, 2017) ......................................... 14
Figure 7 Enabling factors for increased deployment of storage .................................................................... 16
Figure 8 Requirement for reforms in regulations and policy framework ........................................................ 16
Figure 9 A Selection of Financing Schemes Supporting the Development of Energy Storage ..................... 19

Tables
Table 1 Energy Storage Market Segments (ESMAP, 2017) ........................................................................... 9
Table 2 Energy Storage Services per Segment (FEL 100 - Energy Storage Monitor Team, 2018) ................ 9
Table 3 Major Energy Storage Characteristics by Technology (Deloitte, 2015) ............................................ 11
Table 4 Energy Installation Cost (USD/kWh) per Storage Type, (IRENA, 2017) .......................................... 13
Table 5 A selection of Available Energy Storage Financial Tools ................................................................. 14

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 FEL-100 | 2019

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ENERGY STORAGE EXPERTS

Ricky Buch, Founder at Lotricity

James Carton, FEL-100 and Assitant Professor at Dublin City University
Yazan Harasis, Co-founder at Power Edison
Lahiri Sudipta, Senior Consultant at DNV GL - Energy
Mathew Zedler, Head, Product & Application Engineering at Lockheed Martin Advanced Energy Storage LLC
Janice Lin, Founder and CEO of Strategen & Co-founder of Global Energy Storage Alliance (GESA)

WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL CONCTRIBUTORS

Michelle Arellano (Manager, Member Services), Sarah Van Loo (Coordniator, Member Services), and Emily-
Jayne Godfrey (Coordinator, Operations Team)

FEL-100 STUDIES COMMITTEE

Sultan Al Shaaibi, Andrei Covatariu, and Andreas Formosa

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PROJECT TEAM
Reem Irany, Lebanon

Reem Irany, Lebanon

Reem holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer

Engineering and she currently works at LCEC, the national
energy agency for Lebanon. LCEC provides her with a great
deal of experience in the development of national strategies and
implementation of action plans. She contributed in the
preparation of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan for
Lebanon and the Energy Sector Response Plan. Furthermore,
she was part of the technical support unit to the Central Bank of
Lebanon in charge of the technical evaluation of green projects
under NEEREA national financing mechanism. She is currently
taking part in the implementation of solar PV projects around
Lebanon with local and international partners. Reem joined the
Future Energy Leader Programme in 2018 and is now taking
part in shaping the local FEL programme of Lebanon.

Aanchal Kumar, India

Aanchal is an officer at Energy Efficiency Services Limited

(EESL) and a Future Energy Leader at the Word Energy
Council. She has over 8 years of experience in the field of
sustainability and energy efficiency. She has been a pivotal
member in the implementation of the the globally-lauded Unnat
Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme. She has
also worked on research studies in the field of clean energy in
collaboration with the World Resource Institute (WRI),
UNFCCC, World Bank, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(LBNL) and AEEE. As part of her international experience, she
has worked on due diligence studies across energy storage and
charging infrastructure for e-mobility.
She is currently working on setting up Public Electric charging
infrastructure across India in collaboration with various
ministries and stakeholders across the government, for setting
guidelines for operationalising public charging facilities by
developing scalable and impactful business models.

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FEL-100 | 2019

Daniel Gnoth, New Zealand

Dr Gnoth is a senior data scientist with Powerco, an electricity

and gas distributor in the north island. With a background in
consumer behaviour, his work focuses on the changing drivers
of energy demand and the relationships between people and
technology. Current initiatives include modelling the potential
uptake and impact of electric vehicles and solar penetration on
urban and rural networks, smart houses, tariff design and
trialling a new national energy trillema index. Daniel is a board
member of the Young Energy Professionals Network and
member of Future Energy Leaders (FEL100). He also works
closely with academic institutions through steering comittees
and research collaborations and supervision.
Earlier work included coordinating the Otago Energy Research
Centre and collaborating on the Energy Cultures Project – an
interdisciplinary research initiative. He has been a member of
the IEA Task 24 ‘behaviour changers’ and completed a PhD on
the potential for changing energy related behaviour during
household mobility.

Arwa Guesmi, Tunisia

Arwa Works as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Afrique and

advises on public sector reform and energy projects, she is
currently working as the Public lighting technical specialist for a
50M$ USAID project on decentralization and improving
municipal services in 33 Tunisian municipalities. before joining
Deloitte, Arwa worked for the fastest growing energy tech
company in North America where she led the efforts of the
innovation labs designing low cost, smart energy solutions for
their product launches, she also conducted market research on
clean energy emerging technologies notably lithium ion
batteries, blockchain, electric vehicles and energy infrastructure
fleets. She developed technical proposals for US government
energy agencies like NYSERDA and DOE. Prior to joining the
Clean energy sector, Arwa worked for the Oil and Gas industry
for 5 years developing detailed engineering studies for onshore
and offshore platforms and advising on use of technologies.
Arwa has a Bsc in Electrical Engineering and a track record of
engaging in though leadership forums and international network
of social change makers.

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