Stochastic valuation of energy storage in wholesale power markets

- A stochastic energy storage valuation framework is developed.
- A future curve model is built to capture the volatilities of electricity prices.
- The majority of the market revenue comes from frequency regulation services.
- Round-trip efficiency is crucial to the cost effectiveness of energy storage systems.
- Power-to-energy ratio is crucial to the cost effectiveness of energy storage systems.

Energy storage systems are well poised to mitigate uncertainties of renewable generation outputs. Grid-scale energy storage projects are major investments which call for rigorous valuation and risk analysis. This paper provides a stochastic energy storage valuation framework in wholesale power markets which considers all key revenue streams simultaneously. As part of this framework, an operational optimization model is developed to determine the energy storage system's optimal dispatch sequences. A future curve model is built to capture the volatilities of electricity prices. In addition, a frequency regulation service price forecasting model is developed. Simulation results with a realistic battery storage system reveal that the majority of the market revenues comes from frequency regulation services. Simulation results also show that both round-trip efficiency and power-to-energy ratio are crucial to the cost effectiveness of energy storage systems.