The importance of development of energy storage systems for the Republic of Kazakhstan

Today, there is a situation where the technical capabilities of Kazakhstan's UES do not allow further developing the renewable energy sources, due to the imbalances that RES facilities bring into the system, taking into account the lack of maneuverable capacity. This is confirmed by the low volumes for RES projects that have been put up for auction for selection of RES projects over the past 2 years. Thus, for example, in 2020, 55 MW were allocated for implementation of solar power plant projects, which were divided into 3 small lots: 15, 20 and 20 MW each. For wind farms, volumes of 65 MW, divided into 15 and 50 MW, respectively, were put up for auction. Auctions for 120 MW of installed capacity were held within the framework of two tenders for 20 and 100 MW, and the last auction was declared invalid. Volumes of 10 MW were drawn for biofuel power plant.

Strategic Development Plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2025 establishes an indicator that provides for a 6 % share of energy generation by RES, so in order to achieve it, RES should grow at least 2 times based on results of sector development in 2020. In this regard, a logical question arises: how are we going to achieve a target of 6% share of energy generation by RES by 2025?

Solution to this challenge requires active measures that, on the one hand, would solve the issues of the technical capabilities of the UES of Kazakhstan, and on the other hand, would allow the implementation of renewable energy sources projects within the framework of auctions. Currently, such a solution could be implementation of renewable energy sources projects with energy storage. Energy storage systems are a rapidly developing class of high-tech devices that offer fundamentally new opportunities for development of electric power industry. They make electrical energy stored and portable, which eliminates the        need for strict simultaneous processes of its generation and consumption - fundamental limitation on ensuring the balance of power, which was a key factor in formation of modern architecture of the world's existing power systems. In this article, we will try to understand the main processes that occur in the world as part of the development of renewable energy sources with energy storage systems.

Energy storage systems as maneuverable capacities

On December 7, 2020 the President signed the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On amendments and additions to certain regulatory acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on support of use of renewable energy sources and electric power industry”. Amendments adopted for the first time in many years of discussions reflected the standards for development of maneuverable capacities.

Today, the surplus of electric power (3000 MW) is accompanied by a shortage of maneuverable capacities in the Republic. Electricity consumption during the day is uneven, with an increase in the evening hours and a decrease at night. This accordingly requires the operational variable operation of power plants. Obvious imbalances by their nature are also introduced by RES stations. Development of maneuverable capacities to attract them to regulation of production-consumption imbalances will allow redirecting the purchase of part of the services to compensate deviations to the power plants of Kazakhstan, instead of using Russian regulation.

According to the adopted amendments to the Law, the following definition is given: A generating unit with a maneuverable generation mode - a generating unit with a regulating electric power. Yes, based on this, the energy storage system itself is not a maneuverable capacity, because it does not generate electricity, but together with a project using renewable energy technology, for example, wind turbines or solar stations, such a solution would have the necessary ability to regulate.

Back in 2015 International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA has made a very interesting comparison of energy storage systems with a traditional gas turbine station. Thus, according to the report, in the context of regulation, batteries are often referred to as a rapid response resource. Response time can refer to the time it takes for an energy resource to initially respond to a utility signal, or to the time it takes to reach the desired final state. In any definition, the battery reacts quickly. This is because an energy storage battery can charge and discharge energy in seconds or less, faster and more accurately than thermal power plants.

The power supply system benefits in several respects from the rapid and precise power change provided by the battery. The battery can quickly and accurately compensate for short-term power deviations from variable renewable energy generators to maintain the system frequency.

The battery pack offers all of its negative and positive capacities for regulation, as well as a higher rate of linear change in the power generated than fossil fuel power plants. In contrast, a fossil fuel burning plant is limited to a minimum operating level requirement below which operating and maintenance costs will be affected.

The battery life requires less capacity than that of a fossil fuel regulation generator due to its positive regulation performance. This is because the battery pack is faster, more accurate, and able to provide full power for positive and negative regulation ranges. These indicators allow them to be used more often than a fossil fuel generator for regulation due to the growing limitations of these resources.

Back in 2015 International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA has made a very interesting comparison of energy storage systems with a traditional gas turbine station.

In addition, fossil fuel-based regulatory services may cause higher requirements because they are slower to respond to the operator's signal. In this case, they require an increased and unnecessary frequency reserve than a resource that can provide more accurate regulation.

In addition, energy storage batteries can eliminate the need to keep fossil fuel turbines online. This avoids the greenhouse gas emissions from these additional conventional generation plants. If the additional regulation is carried out in natural gas or diesel power plants, rather than on a battery, the comparative emissions can be significant. Regulation frequency provided by traditional installations can also accelerate equipment wear due to the requirements for changes infrequency regulation power generated. This will increase the maintenance costs of these plants and therefore the total cost of additional services.

It is clear that the conventional thinking of state bodies and the system operator in order to implement the standard adopted at the legislative level for the development of maneuverable capacities will drift towards traditional ways of solving the problem through the development of gas turbine power plants and large hydroelectric power plants, which, by the way, are also not RES.

However, in this situation, it is necessary to make a balanced decision based on an accurate comparative analysis of various scenarios and technologies, which would take into account, in addition to economic and technical aspects, the issues of emissions, environmental protection and commitments made by our country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and goals for achieving carbon neutrality.

Drivers of development of energy storage systems in the world

According to the analysis of development of RUSNANO savings systems, the main drivers of development of the market and practice of NEA using in the world were — in order of importance —five main factors:

1.       Reduction in cost and mass distribution of generation based on RES, effective large-scale use of which is impossible without NEA.

2.       Development and beginning of mass distribution of private electric transport.

3.       Mass commercial development of lithium-ion batteries, serving as building blocks of the most common NEAs today, and a sharp reduction in their cost.

4.       Development and reduction of the cost of power electronics capable of efficiently converting current from DC to AC and vice versa, as well as development of communication systems that allow coordinating and managing a significant number of objects in the power system.

5.       An increase in the demand for peak generating and grid capacity (including due to an increase in the share of more uneven household consumption in the total balance of electricity consumption), leading to an increase in the cost of power for consumers and to inefficiency of power systems.

Today, energy storage systems themselves are one of the main drivers of global energy development, accelerating and facilitating its digital transition: development of free energy exchange, p2p energy and capacity markets; use of distributed energy resources and their aggregators, demand response management; growth in share of renewable energy in the energy balance, including through distributed and microgeneration; development and mass distribution of electric vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and other electric vehicles.

Foreign analytical agencies also consider NEA as a component of new energy and smart energy technologies, the market of which is expanding in the context of growing investment in new energy: over the past 10 years, the volume of the global NEA market has almost tripled.

Types of accumulation technologies

There are many different batteries available on the market today, and the specifications and performance vary depending on the technology, manufacturer, and suppliers. Their discharge time ranges from one second to a day, and their capacity ranges from one kW to tens of MW. In addition, each technology has variations depending on the voltage level, the desired depth of discharge, maintenance and load requirements. Therefore, there is no single battery technology that serves a specific application, but rather a variety of options depending on the decision criteria.

However, it is the lithium-ion energy storage batteries that are of interest to solar and wind power plants around the world. As a group, lithium-ion batteries have the advantage of high specific energy, as well as high energy and power density compared to other battery technologies. They also demonstrate high speed and high discharge power, excellent circular turn efficiency, relatively long service life, and low self-discharge rate. First introduced by Sony in the early 1990s, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries quickly became the most important technology for consumer electronics.

Moreover, lithium-ion battery technology is becoming more and more affordable. According to the 2019 battery price survey, BNEF predicts that           the average price of energy storage batteries will be close to $100/kWh by 2023, compared to $156/kWh this year. In general, there has been an 87%          drop in prices since 2010, when prices were around $ 1,100 per kWh in real terms.

To date, a combination of factors continues to reduce the costs: new packaging designs, lower production costs, order size, increased sales of battery-powered electric vehicles, and continued penetration of high-energy-density cathodes.

BNEF forecasts that the battery market will be worth $116 billion a year by 2030, and this does not include investments in supply chain. Drop in prices bodes well for electrification efforts, especially in transportation. According to BNEF, by 2024, prices for energy storage batteries will be so low that electric cars will begin to reach price parity with conventional cars in some regions.

Fall in prices goes with increasing market share in the BNEF analysis, which shows that total battery demand will reach 2 TWh in 2024.

"To generate impossible to accumulate": where to put a comma?

Today, one of the main tasks of the UES of Kazakhstan is to solve the problem of balancing. In general, this problem does not technically make it possible to further develop renewable energy. Apparently, a potential solution for RES would be, in addition to the construction of generating capacities with a maneuverable generation mode, implementation of projects with energy storage systems. Indeed, there are other regulatory tools, for example, such as demand response, which allow to lessen the burden on the system during peak loads. But so far, all possible solutions are either on paper, or are being discussed in heated disputes, or are expected by players of the renewable energy market.

Today, we realize that the time for action has come! As the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr. K.K. Tokayev said in his Address to the People of Kazakhstan in 2020: ’The competitiveness of future leading states is originated with the era of crises and fundamental changes... The challenges of the time force us to constantly develop, improve, and become stronger.’

Taking into account the current state of electricity generation based on RES in Kazakhstan, everyone may choose where to put a comma in the proposed title of the article. After all, I would like to see the possibility of further implementation of RES projects, and development of energy storage systems.

Instead of concluding, let's focus on the most significant barriers to the development of storage systems, to which experts give prominence and currently hinder the start of the market and which should be eliminated by the policy of the state and business in this area:

1.              Lack of reference and fairly well- known successful practice of using energy storage systems (even at the level of singular example) causes reasonable doubts about the systems and therefore seem a risky technological solution;

2.              Distrust of potential consumers to the cost and technical characteristics of storage systems, including those claimed by foreign manufacturers; due to the novelty, distrust to the level of its readiness, to the real cost and operational life;

3.              Complexity of demonstration of effectiveness of energy storage systems in limited-scale projects at the level of individual households or enterprises, occurrence of economic effect only upon implementation of complex projects at the level of districts or industrial sites;

4.              Imperfection of current regulatory and technical regulation of electric power industry in terms of its lack of adaptation to the use of energy storage systems, especially on the basis of modern technologies.

List of references:

1.       Order of the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 202 dated May 21, 2021. "On approval of auction selling schedule for 2020"

2.       Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 15, 2018 No. 636 "On approval of the Strategic Development Plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2025"

3.       Electricity storage systems market in Russia: development potential. Expert and analytical report, Moscow, Rusnano, 2018.

4.       KEMA, 2010; California Energy Storage Alliance, 20115. KEMA, 2010

6.       https://renen.ru/kazahstan-obyazuetsya-dostich-uglerodnoj-nejtralnosti-k-2060-godu-prezident-tokaev/

7.       Electricity storage systems market in Russia: development potential. Expert and analytical report, Moscow, Rusnano, 2018.

8.       https://microgridknowledge.com/battery-energy-storage-prices/