Progressive utilities worldwide are exploring the utilization of energy storage technologies to ease the burden on the grid and more than 15 utilities will be detailing the approaches they have undertaken at our 5th Forum.
Day 1 began with a promising start as Mr Gregory Fayet’s (Project Leader Economy & Regulation of Energy Storage, EDF) presentation on ‘Analysing the Economic Conditions of Potential Energy Storage Services in Europe’ amplified the instrumental role Energy Storage will play as the integration of renewable production and system needs for flexibility increases. To thoroughly maximise the advantages of storage technology and devise a profitable business case for the application of storage solutions, the storage market must be assessed to firstly, understand the various energy storage options, their potential and their associated revenues and secondly, establish the merit orders of the technological solutions.
Grid energy storage has been identified as key to a sustainable future. However, the current adoption of grid energy storage technology is not only expensive but faces multiple technical hurdles as well. Moreover, the issue of what niche applications are currently economically viable, and which ones will become feasible in the future is also a source of contentious debate. The shedding of light on the transition from theoretical to practical materialisation of energy storage technology was thus a key component of Day 1 of the Forum, where Mr Erik Hauptmeier (Corporate R&D, Technologies – Power Networks & Storage, RWE) presented on the case study on Germany: How Energy Storage Can Support Intermittent System Components in Various Time Scales.
Rounding off Day 1 of the conference was the panel discussion which addressed key concerns such as the extent to which the intermittence of power from renewable energy sources can impact the power market, the recognition of energy storage investments in the asset base and the profitability of an energy storage investment that serves a single application. The discussion joined panellists from various utilities such as Mr Otto Pirker (Special Advisor Hydropower, Verbund), Mr Francesco Sessa (Vice President – Network Development, ENEL) and Mr Philippe Cassagne (Chief Technology Officer, GDF SUEZ), Mr Massimo Ricci (Head of Markets Dept, Autorita Dell’ Energia) and Mr Luigi de Francisci (Director of Market & Regulatory Affairs, Terna).
