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The ins and outs of energy storage systems

Headshot of Michelle Isenhouer Hanlin

Michelle Isenhouer Hanlin | Senior Project Lead, Smart & Distributed Energy, Reading | 07 May 2021

How you can make the right investment for your organization.

Resilient. Compatible. Reliable. Energy storage is hailed as an important solution to facilitate the energy transition, help organizations overcome costly power bills, and provide a reliable source of power. As the costs of energy storage — especially batteries — continue to fall, they can help organizations use renewable resources on demand, smooth the intermittent volatility of renewable energy, reduce electricity demand charges, offer a substitute for costly peak power rates, and ensure operational resilience.

One of the most popular types of energy storage are battery energy storage systems — electrochemical rechargeable systems that store energy that’s generated onsite. This could be natural gas-fired or solar energy, or energy from the main power grid.

Battery energy storage systems add significant value to an organization’s operational reliability, particularly when paired with renewable energy. They also provide resilience by providing black-start, back-up power on demand, and can serve as a revenue stream.

Depending on a battery energy storage system’s design and operational algorithms, organizations can optimize their operations for battery energy use by tracking and analyzing renewable production, history and patterns of the system’s power use, utility rate structures and weather patterns.

Making the right investment choice means understanding what storage solution and operating model is right for your organization. 

Download our paper on the ins and outs of energy storage systems to find out how.

Headshot of Michelle Isenhouer Hanlin

Michelle Isenhouer Hanlin

Senior Project Lead, Smart & Distributed Energy

Michelle’s experience in the energy industry has concentrated on energy project development and execution and power and energy strategy development. She is experienced in both large-scale renewable energy and natural gas-based generation through to microgrid and smart building development and has supported the development of over 50 power generation and storage projects. Project and portfolio management activities include technoeconomic analysis, preliminary design optimization, regulation and policy analysis, technology and systems analysis, financial risk identification and mitigation, and extensive stakeholder engagement and strategy development. Michelle is an active participant in the distributed energy space and has spoken at major conferences and events on the ins and outs of microgrid and distributed energy system viability.