The role of energy storage at grid reliability and system reconfiguration: a systemic approach

The energy transition urgency is fostering energy storage's role as the key peace towards a clean energy future. However, the role of this technology on future electricity grid is still under analysis. We consider energy storage as a niche technology in transition to the regime. Therefore, public policies and directed investments are the key drivers to the technology diffusion. California (CA) and South Australia (SA) cases were assessed, and both provided a view on the increasing relevance of energy storage on decarbonization goals and reliability of a renewable grid. The quantitative analysis made by a Bayesian dynamic linear model showed that, despite CA's null impacts, each GWh added in SA's energy storage provided about a 1.2 and 1-point reduction of the (natural) logarithm of SAIDI and SAIFI in 2020, respectively. Furthermore, with announced battery storage projects data, we estimated the effect of the increase of capacity on SA reliability indexes. Our results showed that, if 2020 announced capacity was already operational, a 70% reduction on both frequency and duration of interruptions could be obtained.