Using battery energy storage to reduce renewable resource curtailment

This paper presents the results of a study done to determine the potential for energy storage systems to increase the output of renewable power generation and improve the performance of the power grid in northern Vermont. At present, a large amount of renewable energy generation, both wind and solar, is connected to the power transmission system in northern Vermont. At times and under certain conditions, limitations of capacity or operation of the transmission system in New England force curtailment in the operation of that renewable generation, so it produces less power than it could. Electrical energy storage can potentially improve this situation by allowing the renewable energy to be stored rather than curtailed, and then used at later times, when needed and when transmission constraints do not limit its use. The study looked at whether, and how, energy storage units of the appropriate type and size, installed at the right locations in the northern Vermont power grid, could both improve the situation and payback their cost.