Profit model of industrial and commercial energy storage power station

Operational Models: From "peak-valley arbitrage" to "carbon credit monetization," the profit models of commercial and industrial energy storage are becoming increasingly diversified. These new models not only provide investors and users with more choices and opportunities but also drive the continuous development of energy storage technology.

Business Models for Energy Storage Rows display market roles, columns reflect types of revenue streams, and boxes specify the business model around an application. Each of the three parameters is useful to systematically differentiate investment opportunities for energy storage in terms of applicable business models.

In application (8), the owner of a storage facility would seize the opportunity to exploit differences in power prices by selling electricity when prices are high and buying energy when prices are low.

Where a profitable application of energy storage requires saving of costs or deferral of investments, direct mechanisms, such as subsidies and rebates, will be effective. For applications dependent on price arbitrage, the existence and access to variable market prices are essential.

We propose to characterize a “business model” for storage by three parameters: the application of a storage facility, the market role of a potential investor, and the revenue stream obtained from its operation (Massa et al., 2017).

In the first three applications (i.e., provide frequency containment, short-/long-term frequency restoration, and voltage control), a storage facility would provide either power supply or power demand for certain periods of time to support the stable operation of the power grid.