EASE has prepared a short summary on one of the following energy storage application groups - Ancillary Services.
November 2021 / Reports and Studies
Services to Support Distribution Infrastructure
The Task Force on Segmentation of Applications has developed the Services to Support Distribution Infrastructure Report, among other application descriptions. This work builds on the Summary of Energy Storage Applications published in June 2020.
This overview provides a summary of different energy storage applications that can provide alternative or traditional grid infrastructures at the distribution level. As the variable renewable energy sources are deployed regularly, these emerging services are gaining importance on the EU Market.
Services to Distribution Infrastructure are composed of six key systems:
Distribution Grid Upgrade Deferral: using energy storage to defer or avoid distribution infrastructure upgrades and solve distribution congestion issues by installing energy storage systems instead of new lines; using energy storage as a distribution grid component to decrease the traditional grid size during the grid planning process by basing its design on a medium power value and not a peak power value.
Contingency Grid Support: using energy storage to perform some capacity/voltage support in order to reduce the impacts of the loss of a major grid component. It refers to redundancy provisions to cover the trip of the largest transmission line in an area.
Dynamic Local Voltage Control: using energy storage to maintain the voltage profile within admissible contractual/regulatory limits.
Intentional Islanding: using energy storage to energise a non-loopable feeder during an outage.
Reactive Power Compensation: using energy storage to reduce the amount of reactive energy drawn from transmission and charged by the TSO to the DSO.
Cross Sectoral Storage: the practice of coupling the electricity sector with other energy sectors (gas, fuel, heat) by converting excess supply of electricity to the grid into energy carriers, synthetic fuels, and heat, thus avoiding curtailment of running power generators (RES, thermal power plants, etc.).
This position paper, prepared by the Energy Storage Europe Association, assesses the system value of long-duration energy storage, identifies barriers to deployment, and proposes recommendations to better align European energy, industrial, and financing frameworks with the long-term flexibility needs of a fully decarbonised power system.
In this position paper, the Energy Storage Europe Association calls for a shift from today’s “first-come, first-served” queue system to a more efficient, strategic, and transparent framework that recognises the unique value of energy storage for reducing congestion, enhancing flexibility, and making better use of existing grid infrastructure.
Energy Storage Europe Association has published its Position Paper on Improving Permitting Procedures, highlighting the urgent need to streamline, harmonise, and modernise permitting frameworks for energy storage across the EU. Europe needs a fast, fair, and future-proof permitting framework to unlock the estimated 200 GW of energy storage required by 2030.
Energy Storage Europe Association responds to the European Commission’s Public Consultations on the Electrification Action Plan and the Heating and Cooling Strategy, highlighting the need for stronger recognition of storage as a central enabler of electrification and heating decarbonisation. This requires clearer policies to integrate storage into planning and investment pathways, along with measures to remove persistent barriers such as high upfront costs, slow permitting, unfavourable taxation, and weak market signals. Storage should be treated as a default element of a cost-effective, system-friendly transition and reflected accordingly in planning frameworks, financing tools, and flexibility market design.
