A sensitivity analysis to determine technical and economic feasibility of energy storage systems implementation: A flow battery case study

An economical and technical feasibility method was developed to determine the best implementation opportunities for a novel energy storage system (ESS). The ESS considered is a Zinc-Air flow battery in which energy storage may be scaled independently of the power output, and it can provide continuous power output of 5 kW during 8 h. Although the application field is vast, we have chosen three applicable scenarios where the new technology can be used: mining deployment, telecommunication tower, and a remote island. All three cases differ in load variability and load size, and we also considered three locations with their specific solar and wind resource. Three different power sources were also considered for this study: Diesel generator (DG), solar photovoltaic (PV), and wind turbine (WT). The best business opportunity for the new technology implementation was found to be in the mining industry. Power delivery from the ESS replaces the operation of DG during low demand periods in the case of variable load, as opposed to constant load, where the DG is permanently running. Fuel consumption reductions up to 75% can be achieved if the ESS is combined with renewable sources. However, the novel system alone represents approximate savings up to 33% in fuel consumption, when added to a conventional power generation system (diesel generator). Furthermore, the presented method aims to identify the main factors that affect the implementation feasibility of the ESS, and to provide a general approach that can be extended to different storage capabilities and fields of application.