Whilst the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) and Ofgem have been supportive of energy storage and recognise the benefits and flexibility provided by the various technologies, there is no specific legislation on or regulation of storage at present.
Around 15 states have adopted some form of energy storage policy, including procurement targets, regulatory adaption, demonstration programs, financial incentives, and/or consumer protections. Several states have also required that utility resource plans include energy storage.
Ofgem is the relevant regulator for electricity storage, though as noted above there is no specific storage regulatory regime. Ofgem has recognised that there are regulatory changes required to enable the full commercial development of storage and it has committed to working with other stakeholders to consult on such changes.
Construction risks: It is common practice to see multiple equipment supply, construction, and installation contracts rather than one turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for energy storage projects.
The challenges for new standalone energy storage projects are as follows: revenue uncertainty – the contract terms available for many of the available revenue streams are short in duration; at four years, the term of EFR contract is the longest. As a consequence, projects have to manage greater revenue uncertainty over the lifetime of the project.
higher operational costs – where an energy storage device imports electricity from the transmission or distribution system, it is charged as if the storage device is an “end-user” for the purposes of the Renewables Obligation, Contract for Difference, and Feed in Tariff charges.