Evaluation of business possibilities of energy storage at commercial and industrial consumers - A case study

In this paper, a recent study is presented, which aimed to examine the profitability of an energy storage unit, installed at an industrial or commercial consumer. The storage strategy was created through an optimization process considering two aspects: to decrease the power draw from the grid during peak hours and to decrease energy consumption of peak hours by shifting the needs to off-peak periods. A quasi-automatic decision support system was developed, which can determine parameters of the storage unit based on user defined inputs. Market potential of the idea was evaluated using data of a group of potential customers. Results have shown that the specified application can create positive net present value under certain circumstances.