Selecting the Best Energy Storage Technology for Grid Applications

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KEMA, a global provider of business and technical consulting, testing and certification has enhanced its suite of consulting services for evaluating energy storage solutions. ES-Select, a new energy storage performance modeling tool, provides more meaningful analyses to determine the return-on-investment of available and emerging technologies.

“The best decision-making tools allow clients to evaluate as much information as possible”

Energy storage technologies can vary extensively—from an electric battery to a flywheel—with corresponding differences in deliverable power, efficiency, discharge time, cycle life, and other operational characteristics. Uncertainty about the total cost and value of an energy storage device makes it difficult to determine payback. A number of business factors also influence the decision-making process, including:

the actual installed cost of the device,
the device’s number of applications,
the ability to monetize the intended benefits of the application.

ES-Select allows KEMA clients to choose storage technology for multiple simultaneous applications like transmission and distribution upgrade deferral and area regulation. ES-Select offers probabilistic distributions for cost, payback, and other key decision-making parameters. Free trials of the software are available for download at www.kema.com/ES-select.

“The best decision-making tools allow clients to evaluate as much information as possible,” said Dr. Ali Nourai, KEMA Executive Consultant. “In the nascent grid-scale storage industry, quantifying and comparing products is not as easy as it might sound. KEMA’s energy storage modeling tools offer clients the ability to conduct careful analysis of the many interrelated factors that influence energy storage performance and the total cost of an energy storage system.”

“KEMA is pleased to add this tool for storage analysis to our extensive laboratory of more than 70 analytic models. ES-Select leverages our extensive technical knowledge and expertise to help our clients make confident storage and investment and planning decisions,” said Hugo van Nispen, Managing Director of KEMA Americas. “It is hard to imagine how the industry can advance end-use applications and the science of large scale storage applications without the discipline and rigor provided through decision support tools like this.“

About KEMA

Founded in 1927, KEMA (www.kema.com) is a global provider of business and technical consulting, operational support, measurement and inspection, testing and certification for the energy and utility industry. With world headquarters in Arnhem, the Netherlands, KEMA employs more than 1,700 professionals globally with offices and representatives in more than 20 countries. KEMA’s U.S. subsidiary, KEMA Inc. is headquartered in Burlington, Mass., and serves energy clients throughout the Americas and Caribbean.

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