Environmental and economic analysis of sector-integrating hybrid battery energy storage systems

Abstract

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are advocated as crucial elements for ensuring grid stability in times of increasing infeed of intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) and therefore paving the way for more sustainable energy systems. Under the current regulative framework for frequency containment reserve, BESSs are required to reserve portions of their capacity available, which limits their use for further applications. Hence, resources deployed in the BESS are not fully utilised from a macroeconomic and environmental perspective. Hybridisation of BESS facilities with consumer units, such as power-to-heat modules or electrolysers, enables unlimited energy infeed and is discussed as potential means to overcome this constraint. Simultaneously, they make use of excess RES in other carbon-intensive sectors. Whilst, a couple of studies have investigated the economic advantages of hybrid BESS, environmental consequences of hybrid systems were hardly analysed, so far. Sector integration could form an integral part of the sustainable energy transition. In this regard, including environmental aspects in such analyses are expected to turn the page favouring hybrid solutions. This study analyses the environmental and macroeconomic impacts of a hybrid pilot-plant consisting of an 18 MW Li-Ion battery and a power-to-heat unit based on the life cycle thinking approach. It is shown that different scenarios (e.g. use of curtailed RES in the heat sector) can affect the environmental and macroeconomic performance of such hybrid systems and the heat sector. Finally, recommendations are given for the further development of sector integrating solutions.