Status: Published
Citation: Bistline, John; Young, David. “Emissions Impacts of Future Battery Storage Deployment on Regional Power Systems.” Applied Energy 264.
Battery storage technologies have attracted attention from investors and policymakers for their potential to reduce electric sector CO2, NOx, and SO2 emissions by enabling greater wind and solar penetration. Yet existing studies indicate that adding energy storage increases emissions. The difference may be explained by the absence in the previous literature of “investment effects” –changes in deployment of other generation technologies after energy storage is deployed. This analysis by EPRI researchers is the first of storage-induced emissions changes using a model that simultaneously accounts for both long-run investment and dispatch effects.
The analysis finds that the investment effect is a substantial driver of emissions outcomes, dominating the dispatch effect. Emissions may increase or decrease with storage in a given region, depending on policy and market assumptions, and reductions are more likely in environments where wind and solar are more economically competitive relative to natural-gas-fired generation. These results suggest that existing studies that only account for operational impacts likely underestimate potential emissions reductions from battery storage deployment.
Understanding impacts of energy storage deployment on capacity planning and emissions is a key strategic question for electric sector investors, policymakers, and technology developers, and the methodological issue of appropriate modeling frameworks for evaluating emissions impacts is applicable in other settings like electric vehicles, demand response, and energy efficiency measures. Since battery storage technologies are rapidly decreasing in costs and policy incentives are being put in place to encourage deployment, understanding investment and emissions impacts will aid R&D prioritization efforts and guide strategic planning.
Link to Journal article: Applied Energy