Towards a sustainable electricity grid: Market and policy for demand-side storage and wind resources

While the net benefit of installing Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is largely locational, this work examines the system value in adding wind turbines and battery storage to a Northern Irish electricity distribution network. The DER – turbines and storage – were deployed in modules: first, for increased self-consumption of wind energy and secondly, for additional services. The results suggest that, given the current market structure, deploying the DER solely for increased self-consumption, while technically achievable, is not economically feasible. The upgrading approaches profitability and sustainability as the storage is deployed for stacked market services – and could be achieved through suitable market policies.