Does frequency regulation play a role in energy storage commercialization?

Frequency regulation has played a large role in energy storage commercialization, and will continue to play a role. But how large a role depends on changes to the design of PJM’s frequency regulation market. PJM embarked on these changes in an effort to correct observed problems in the market.

What is frequency regulation?

Frequency regulation is the injection or withdrawal of real power by facilities capable of responding to a system operator’s automatic generation control (AGC) signal (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 2011).

What are frequency regulating reserves?

Introduction Frequency regulating reserves are required to maintain nominal frequency on the electric grid during normal operation. These reserves–commonly known as regulation–are one of many ancillary services procured by system operators and traded in wholesale electricity markets.

How much does it cost to regulate a power plant?

Generating resources can only submit single value capacity and mileage regulation offers. The total regulation cost offer (sum of two regulation product offers) must be between $0/MW h and $500 /MW h (Midcontinent ISO, 2018a). MISO has a system- wide regulation capacity requirement of 300–500 MW (Chen, 2019).

Should energy be regulated?

Energy is a more highly valued product than regulating reserves, so generating resources could make more money if all their power capacity was compensated in the energy market instead of the regulating market. Opportunity costs quantify this lost profit for providing regulation.

How can I provide 1 kW of regulation for 1 hour?

To provide 1 kW of regulation for 1 hour, you need the physical ability to increase your generation by that amount for the entire duration. This is particularly relevant for energy limited resources like energy storage. This binary input applies the Reg Up Min (kW) and Reg Up Max (kW) timeseries inputs as constraints in the optimization.