Uncertainty in electricity supply controlled by energy storage

The hour by hour changes of demand cannot be accurately forecast because consumers are free to switch appliances at any instant. The greatest uncertainty is posed by the peak periods even though they are of short duration and only use a small proportion of daily energy consumption. Sufficient quantities of energy storage could curtail daily peak demand changes so permitting replacement of demand forecasting by more predictable daily energy forecasts. Not only would it eliminate peaking generation and simplify generator scheduling, but it would also produce a single daily tariff and allow easier financial planning for power system development. The electricity supply industry would incur capital and operating expenditures for the entire power network and additional generators of $6000 to $7000 for each kW of peak demand growth. This expense could be avoided by battery energy storage systems which could curtail peak demand at a cost of $2000 per kW so gaining savings of $4 to $5 billion for a period with 1000 MW growth of peak demand.