Utility-Scale Portable Energy Storage Systems

Battery storage is expected to play a crucial role in the low-carbon transformation of energy systems. The deployment of battery storage in the power grid, however, is currently limited by its low economic viability, which results from not only high capital costs but also the lack of flexible and efficient utilization schemes and business models. Making utility-scale battery storage portable through trucking unlocks its capability to provide various on-demand services. We introduce the potential applications of utility-scale portable energy storage and investigate its economics in California using a spatiotemporal decision model that determines the optimal operation and transportation schedules of portable storage. We show that mobilizing energy storage can increase its life-cycle revenues by 70% in some areas and improve renewable energy integration by relieving local transmission congestion. The life-cycle revenue of spatiotemporal arbitrage can fully compensate for the costs of a portable energy storage system in several regions in California.

Automated summary

Battery storage is constrained in the power grid by its economic feasibility, but can be made portable through trucking to enhance its value through various on-demand services. In California, mobile utility-scale energy storage can increase life-cycle revenues and improve renewable energy integration by alleviating local transmission congestion, with some areas able to fully offset costs through spatiotemporal arbitrage.