BOOSTing generation performance & revenues of storage assets

As more storage assets come online, the ability to optimize asset performance and strategically schedule and bid energy and regulation will become increasingly valuable, driving stiffened market competition and decreased frequency regulation prices.

Customized Energy Solutions (CES), which has been providing value-added consulting and market operations services to the rapidly evolving electric industry, has now over the last decade established itself in the advanced energy storage industry in North America. The company implements revenue optimization strategies on behalf of asset-owning clients, by understanding the market rules that impact storage assets.

Under a recently signed agreement with renewable energy developer Kearsarge Energy L.P., CES will use its Grid Bid/Offer Optimization & Scheduling platform, GridBOOST, to enhance the performance and revenue generation of Kearsarge's 4.4 MW solar / 10 MWh BESS facility in Bellingham, Massachusetts. The plant, supplied to Kearsarge by the global EV/BESS solution group NHOA, provides dispatchable solar energy and grid support to the New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE). With the use of this platform, the site's performance in the capacity and frequency regulation markets is expected to improve, raising its revenue by 20 to 50 percent.

The advantage of GridBOOST (unlike the conventional ramp-based generation profiles used to guide storage dispatch and charging) is that it integrates data from multiple sources to make holistic, data-driven scheduling and bidding decisions. The algorithm of the software-based platform accounts for the technology constraints and operational performance of generation and storage assets, as well as external factors including market participation rules and limitations, day-ahead and real-time pricing forecasts, and weather forecasts. 

CES's optimization tool will also help the Kearsarge solar+storage facility to capitalize on the benefit structures of available incentive programs like Solar Massachusetts Renewable Targets (SMART) and Massachusetts Clean Peak Energy, which promote cost-effective, long-term sustainable energy and clean energy technologies. All energy generated by this project has been allocated to the nearby town of Randolph under a 20-year purchase agreement, helping the town save nearly $5 million in lower energy costs.

"GridBOOST offers Kearsarge a dynamic and agile strategy for scheduling and bidding the storage resource into the ISO-NE markets, generating an immediate increase in revenue and setting them up for continued success in the future," stated Erik Paulson, Vice President of Wholesale Market Services at CES.

GridBOOST is currently available in California ISO (CAISO) and ISO-NE, with plans to expand into new markets, such as ERCOT, PJM, and NYISO, shortly.