Techno-economic analysis of Energy Storage as a Service business models for prosumers in France

Abstract: One of the current challenges for developed countries is the transformation of the entire electricity system. Ambitious objectives of renewable energy penetration in the electricity mixare established to reduce the energy sector’s greenhouse gas emissions rate and reach sustainability goals. These objectives mean both a higher share of electricity in the energy mix, and a higher share of electricity from renewable sources. This new electricity mix is generating transformations for the electricity grid and causes the need for flexibilities to compensate for the intermittency of solar and wind energies which make up most of the renewable electricity additions. One of the vectors of remodeling of the electricity system is the local on-site production of electricity consumed, which makes it possible to reduce the needs for additional transmission capacity. Thanks to the decrease of photovoltaic costs, self-consumption solar projects have become profitable and have developed a lot in Europe in the last years. Batteries will likely follow the PV trend a few years later and are also becoming affordable. Several companies now offer solar energy packs combining roof-top solar panels with a small battery for the residential sector. Larger consumers in the commercial, industrial or tertiary sectors can also benefit from locally produced and cheap energy in the face of rising electricity costs. This study focuses on France where electricity prices were affordable but the question of the profitability of a battery for a greater local consumption is now raised due to rising and volatile prices. We try to develop an Energy as a Service business model profitable for both the provider and the consumer to overcome the barrier of high investment costs and technical complexity of batteries. The use cases of the battery investigated are increasing self-consumption and load shifting. They are compared to establish the profitability of a photovoltaic plus storage project for a tertiary consumer in France. It is found that the addition of a battery to a solar self-consumption project decreases slightly the annual net savings on the electricity bill for the consumer. However, it increases the self-sufficiency rate between 2% and 8%. An other conclusion is that the retail price of electricity is the most important element in the profitability of batteries. Thus, the profitability of behind-the-meter storage projects under current policies relies on unstable and high electricity prices.