During Winter Storm Heather this past year, battery storage reduced power costs in Texas by $750 million. This finding was only one of many in a report released by Aurora Energy Research this May, “The Role of Battery Energy Storage Systems in the ERCOT Market.”  The report is one of the most in-depth analyses to date on the impact of battery storage, which has grown exponentially in Texas over the past decade, even surpassing growth in markets with major battery subsidies. 

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Olivier Beaufils, one of the report’s primary authors and the lead of the ERCOT Market team at Aurora Energy Research, a company focused on providing power market forecasting and analytics for energy markets around the world.

Olivier was gracious enough to go through the key takeaways of the report and break down its findings with me. We discussed how the study calculated system’s savings during Heather, whether these types of savings can be expected in the future, how batteries are pairing with natural gas and renewables in the ERCOT market, the potential of long-duration energy storage, and more. Olivier also detailed what happened in Texas on September 6th – wherein ERCOT called an Energy Emergency Alert level 2, the first time it did that since Winter Storm Uri – and how batteries kept the system running and Texans’ lights on.

We recorded this episode prior to Hurricane Beryl's impact on Texas. While we don’t discuss its specific impacts and aftermath here, we are preparing a series of episodes in the coming weeks that will focus on Hurricane Beryl, its effect on Houston, and strategies for improving Texas’s resilience against future hurricanes and extreme weather events. Despite not directly addressing Beryl, this episode remains pertinent to these conversations, particularly as home battery storage systems are crucial tools for community safety and resilience.

I learned a lot from this report and from the conversation. After listening, I encourage you to take a look at the report as well; it is free and publicly available. Thank you for being a listener and don’t forget to like, share, and leave a five star review wherever you listen to podcasts.

Timestamps

3:17 - About Aurora Energy Research

4:25 - Summary and key takeaways from Aurora’s Battery Energy Storage Systems in the ERCOT Market report

9:02 - Pace in battery storage growth: what spurred it

12:18 - How Aurora calculated battery savings during Winter Storm Heather and if this level of savings is typical

17:57 - Batteries as ancillary services 

21:55 - Shift in scarcity hours in TX, the duck curve, and how batteries are helping solve peak demand challenges

28:09 - Findings on peaker plants, natural gas, and the need for flexible resources

33:05 - Demand growth

37:42 - What happened on September 6th and how batteries kept the system running

41:23 - Long duration energy storage

Show Notes:

Aurora Energy Research

Role of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in the ERCOT Market - report from Aurora Energy Research

Energy Unplugged Podcast from Aurora Energy Research

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.douglewin.com/subscribe