Alternative balancing energy in the Alpine region. The technical, legal and economic feasibility of large-scale battery storage for grid stabilization in both Tirol and underdeveloped markets.

Abstract

Integrating battery energy storage systems (BESS) into the electricity grid can provide stability for the electricity grids of various countries as well as opportunities to make profit for investors and those involved in their construction and operation. BESS systems can be profitable in countries including Austria, where they can integrate well into existing grid structures, and countries with conflict and unstable electricity grids like Ukraine and Lebanon, where increased electricity volatility allows for increased revenue potential.Based on a case study of the Jenbach Battery Storage Park in Austria, this thesis examines the feasibility of BESS in Austria. The Jenbach Battery Storage Park is already under construction, so assuming the costs including financing and construction as givens, a revenue analysis based on day-ahead electricity market data shows the revenue potential and therefore the expected profits from such a facility. These revenues come from calculations in an Excel model, and the results from the Excel calculations are in line with those presented by the project developers.Further research takes an analogous hypothetical facility but substitutes day-ahead electricity market data from Ukraine for Austrian data and adds additional factors to conduct another revenue analysis of a hypothetical BESS facility’s feasibility. Lebanon does not produce analogous data as the country does not have a free market model of electricity trading, but qualitative comparisons and analysis show that a BESS facility in Lebanon would be similar, for purposes of this analysis, to one in Ukraine. Overall, BESSfacilities in Ukraine and Lebanon show increased profit potential due to the volatility of electricity prices in those countries, but the instability and conflict behind that volatility affect the electricity grid as a whole, and that risk may render such a project infeasible even with increased profit potential should the grid function ideally. More concretely, thehigher costs associated with construction in Ukraine and Lebanon do not alone renderBESS facilities unfeasible, but the potential for the currencies of these countries to pre-cipitously lose value against major currencies such as Euros and US Dollars renders the economics unfeasible once those currency risks are taken into account.