A Review on Techno-Economics and Financing for Grid Energy Storage Systems

Several renewable energies such as wind and solar are intermittent. To increase renewable energy penetration, Electrical Energy Storage (EES) systems are becoming increasingly important. There is an increasing need for wide deployment of EES from generation to distribution systems. This requires relevant financial resources, and economics and finance are the important factors to determine if installing EES is profitable. Hence, this paper reviews the recent economics and financial analyses performed for EES in the energy system context. The paper begins with examining the EES technologies. Then, the difference between energy economics and finance are explained. The recent EES techno-economic studies and financial studies are reviewed. Under the uncertain economic, financing, and technical environment, it is important to examine EES projects with real options analysis. Finally, the paper concludes with future research directions for EES finance and economics.