Session: 09-04 Techno-Economic Analysis and System Integration of Energy Storage

Submission Number: 179140

Application of a Techno-Economic Framework to the Economic Dispatch of Energy Storage Systems 

This paper applies a techno-economic analysis framework -specifically developed for hybrid Energy Storage Systems (ESS)- to a market-specific case study representative of grids with high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration, such as those of Spain or California. The goal is to understand how the potential to generate economic value in highly volatile electricity markets is influenced by design and operational parameters of an ESS —independent of its capital cost or specific technology—.

A sensitivity analysis to key performance metrics and sizing ratios is performed. These metrics include: (i) Primary Energy Rate (the ratio between charge and discharge energy over a storage cycle), (ii) Fuel Heat Rate (the ratio between fuel energy input and discharge energy output) (iii) T-Rate (the ratio between charging and discharging durations), and (iv) Storage capacity (expressed as the equivalent number of discharge hours). Additional variables such as fuel cost and the minimum price margin (€/MWh) required to offset start-up and other operational expenses are also examined.

Unlike many previous studies that assume full charge–discharge cycles daily, this analysis performs an economic dispatch of both charging and discharging operations based on hourly electricity prices. For this, a Python-based simulation platform implementing a trading algorithm is employed.

The methodology is used to generate design maps that capture how design decisions affect key indicators such as capacity factor (the ratio of energy discharged to the maximum possible if operated continuously at full power), park spread (unitary operating margin, defined as the difference between discharge revenues and charging costs normalized to total discharged energy), number of start-ups and shutdowns, fraction of fuel-assisted discharge, and energy curtailed due to storage limitations.

The resulting design maps condense the economic dispatch behavior of ESS across a wide parametric space, identifying favorable operating regions, quantifying when oversizing storage and charging subsystems yields marginal benefits, and defining minimum thresholds for other parameters. These maps can serve as a decision-support tool for system designers, investors, and policymakers, providing technology-agnostic insights to guide subsequent techno-economic analyses that include capital costs and specific technology choices.

The proposed methodology provides a unified basis to compare diverse ESS technologies under consistent market assumptions, enabling data-driven selection of system configurations and target economic metrics.

Presenting Author: Pablo Rodríguez De Arriba University of Seville

Presenting Author Biography: Pablo Rodríguez de Arriba is a PhD student in Energy Engineering at the University of Seville. His thesis focuses on the techno-economic optimization and integration of innovative CO2-based technology for Concentrated Solar Power applications. His research activity focuses on Energy Storage, advanced power cycles, ORC, WHR and economic evaluations.

Authors:

Pablo Rodríguez De Arriba University of Seville
William Conlon Pintail Power
Milton Venetos Pintail Power LLC
Francesco Crespi University of Seville
David Sánchez University of Seville