FERC Order Promises to Be a Boon for Energy Storage

Federal energy regulators Feb. 15 adopted an order to expand participation of energy storage providers in wholesale power markets and another to enhance the frequency response capabilities of new generation facilities.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s order on storage, said Kevin McIntyre, commission chair, requires independent system operators and regional transmission organizations to remove “unnecessary barriers” to market participation for a broad range of storage technologies, from batteries to flywheels.

Commissioner Richard Glick predicted this week’s order will accelerate the declining price of battery storage systems by helping manufacturers increase their economies of scale.

Commissioner Robert Powelson called the order “a step forward for new technologies,” noting that more storage will ease grid integration of rising levels of intermittent renewable power production.

Under the order, said Michael Herbert of FERC’s Office of Energy Policy, storage system operators will be able to participate in energy, capacity, and ancillary services markets.

Market operators, he elaborated, will have to allow participation of storage systems sized at 100 kW or more of capacity in their markets. Operators also will have the option, Herbert explained, of allowing even smaller-sized systems to participate.

Energy dispatched from storage systems will have to be sold at the wholesale locational marginal price of power where they’re located.

FERC commissioners noted that originally the rulemaking also aimed to allow distributed energy resources to be aggregated for wholesale market participation, but that proved to be too complicated to resolve in the same proceeding.

Accordingly, they noted that FERC is planning a technical conference in April on aggregation of distributed resources for market participation.

In a separate action, federal regulators approved another order. It mandates that all new small and large generator grid interconnection agreements require frequency response capabilities.

Until recently, only synchronous generation plants, such as natural gas plants with spinning turbines, were able to respond to maintain grid frequency at the optimal level.

However, smart inverters now offer the same capability for solar systems, for instance, as has been demonstrated in California.

FERC’s frequency response order requires all new generating facilities to have a “functioning governor or equivalent controls” before they can be interconnected to the grid.

FERC officials noted that grid operators will have some ability to tailor specific frequency response requirements to their unique situations. —William J. Kelly

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FERC Order Promises to Be a Boon for Energy Storage

William J. Kelly

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