Energy storage reinforces competitive business practices

This article examines how the ability to ''store'' electricity can pay handsome dividends in a competitive environment. Priorities change when industries are deregulated. Indeed, new priorities are being established for electric generation--low cost, efficiency, product distinction for marketing purposes, etc. are all more critical today. Perhaps not so obvious is the fundamental role of energy storage in a fully competitive marketplace. In fact, rarely do a technology development and a changing business climate play off against each other so nicely. Consider the function of the emerging electricity broker, or power marketer. Imagine the premium that broker could command with access to a large increment of electricity--purchased at a low price--and supplied at a moment's notice for a substantially higher price. Storage of electricity would mean that the investment in excess available generation capacity to supply so-called peak demand could be avoided. It also means that electricity could be brokered like other commodities--that is purchased, stockpiled, and sold to reflect market conditions across a wider geographical region and time spain. Benefits accrue to transmission and distribution, in addition to generation. Energy storage helps to manage the increasing stress placed on the grid as a result of intermittent sources of power and large numbers of cogenerators and small power producers. On the customer side, any ratepayer large or small could, theoretically, play the spot market in electric supply with a reserve to tap in emergencies. For a parallel in other deregulated markets, recall how storage has become an important factor in natural-gas contracting. Quality of electricity also can be improved by applying storage to stabilize the grid, especially along the distribution system at substations. And the opening of vast markets for electricity consumption, such as electric vehicles, depends in large measure on electric storage