Storage project promoters do not have it easy to connect to the electrical grid. There is a problem related to requests for access permits and connection to networks by storage facilities in cases where there is capacity for generation, but not for demand. In this way, companies that want to begin processing now risk being left without the corresponding capacity for the part of the demand, necessary for the project to operate.
The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) explains that in cases where there is available generation capacity but not demand, the network managers are applying different interpretations in the processing of requests, granting some only. e Access to the generation part of the storage, leaving the demand conditional on the result of a subsequent analysis once the regulatory circular intended for the demand facilities has been approved. It is currently being processed and it is expected that the competition will approve it this year.
The aforementioned circular will allow the issuance of access permits with flexible access capacity for demand, so, predictably, in the previous case, said capacity could not be zero and the project could be undertaken. “However, the time elapsed until said development is carried out may mean that, by then, there will no longer be generation access capacity to the verse occupied by other generation projects without storage,” warns the regulator in the supporting report of the proposed resolution establishing the detailed specifications for determining the generation access capacity to the transportation network and distribution networks.
Alternative proposal and only temporarily
However, the CNMC proposes a temporary alternative. The previous resolution proposal includes the possibility for network managers to offer applicants for capacity for storage facilities an alternative proposal for permitting access and connection limited to generation capacity. For their part, once the resolution of detailed demand specifications has been approved, said projects may also request the capacity corresponding to the part of the demand “on equal terms with any other request that has been submitted at that node, so “No discrimination would apply to some subjects versus others.”
Now, it is the promoters themselves who must assess the risk associated with beginning the processing of the projects, especially the loss of attention to the corresponding guarantees and the expiration of the permits granted. They are not offered any assurance that if they start the process now they will subsequently obtain the capacity corresponding to the part of the demand, necessary for the storage project to operate. Currently, grid capacity is binary, either to generate or to consume, but batteries can do both.
The CNMC is working to expedite the connection to the transportation and distribution networks of electricity demand facilities. Thus, propose the creation of flexible access permissions, which will allow access to the network at certain times. However, in order for them to be operationally feasible and not pose a risk to the security of the system, it is anticipated that the access permit must specify the conditions in which the notice period of the limitation of access to the network (in time real, minutes, hours, weeks, months or annual advance), response times to power reduction requirements, technical requirements of the installation and registration requirements to control centers, sending instructions, possibility of remote operation or the authorization to participate in power reduction mechanisms or others that are established.
There are about 129 GW of power ‘locked’
In the specific case of storage, it points out that “the inherent flexibility of these facilities must be taken into account in the evaluation of the capacity of the networks, modifying the traditional analysis from the guarantee of supply of consumption, valuing their capacity to support the system that allows existing capacity to emerge in the networks.” Currently, there are more than 300 nodes of the transport network reserved for competitions for access to electricity generation facilities that use renewable sources and also for storage facilities, with a power that reaches 129 gigawatts (GW).
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition has launched an Expression of Interest on the nodes to see which agents are interested, with what technology they want to compete, if they are new projects or expansions, or if they are hybridized R&D&IO, among others. . items. The objective is thus to know the appetite for capacity, but in no case will participation grant any right or additional score in the eventual holding of a contest. Andalusia went ahead and did the same.
Another issue that storage is pending is whether the guarantees that project promoters have to present to obtain access and connection permits will finally be eliminated. They are set at 20 euros/kW and the energy sector complains that the amount is “much higher than the risk that is intended to be covered”, even discouraging or paralyzing investment as many promoters cannot assume the risk of losing guarantees. . Along with the risks implicit in this type of pioneering projects that seek the development of a market and a business model that does not exist today. In this sense, he denounces that the proposed regulatory framework represents a serious impediment to the prompt and agile development of storage projects.
Energy Storage Strategy
The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) establishes a target of 22 GW of installed storage capacity by 2030. The Government approved the Energy Storage Strategy in February 2021. The key to this technology is that it provides the system with flexibility and stability, enables it to cope with the variability and partial predictability of renewable technologies and avoids the loss of clean energy when there is capacity to generate more renewable energy than can be consumed, being able to use it later.
The sector is also waiting for the capacity mechanism, which is being negotiated with the European Commission and reinforces the reform of the European electricity market agreed during the Spanish Presidency of the EU. This will reward your availability and give you a strong boost. Right now their income depends on storing energy when the price is low and releasing it into the red when it is higher.
