Welfare effects of grid-scale energy storage

No Thumbnail Available

Files

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
Electronic archive copy is available locally at the Harald Herlin Learning Centre. The staff of Aalto University has access to the electronic bachelor's theses by logging into Aaltodoc with their personal Aalto user ID. Read more about the availability of the bachelor's theses.

Date

2024

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Bachelor’s programme in Economics

Language

en

Pages

24+5

Series

Abstract

This thesis employs a comprehensive literature review to assess the social costs and benefits that arise when grid-scale energy storage systems are implemented into electricity markets. As electricity production transitions towards renewables, interest has grown towards energy storage which could counteract the intermittency of wind and solar power sources. This thesis has uncovered significant potential welfare gains associated with storage deployment such as gains to producer and consumer surplus, as well as broader societal level benefits such as enabling the integration of additional renewable energy capacity, decreasing carbon emissions and improving the security of electricity supply. A separate question is who owns the storage system: most efficient equilibrium outcomes occur when storage operates competitively while market power among storage operators distorts the welfare gains and could even be welfare diminishing. The amount of literature in this field is limited, but this will likely change as manufacturing costs for batteries decrease, enabling their broader adoption in the electricity grid. Effects of storage on total market surplus as well as the effect market power are covered well in current literature. On the other hand, emphasising the broader transmission system wide welfare effects, such as how a storage system effects energy security, could be valuable prospects for future studies.

Description

Thesis advisor

Vehviläinen, Iivo

Keywords

energy storage, welfare, renewable energy, private costs and benefits, external costs and benefits

Other note

Citation