| | SEPTEMBER 201819CIOReviewSOLAR TO STORAGE ASSET MANAGEMENT: HOW RECENT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTBy Philip Mihlmester, Executive Vice President-Global Energy, Katie Janik, Portfolio and Asset Management, Todd Tolliver, Senior Manager, ICF EnergyAdvancements in technology, reductions in cost, and improved understanding of the benefits of battery storage have increased the demand and utilization of battery storage systems. This development, in turn, has resulted in a growing need for solar battery storage asset management across the energy sector. When solar technologies originally became more reliable and scalable, the industry focus was on closing deals. Getting the asset management of solar projects right was an afterthought. Today, battery storage systems are still in the relative early phases of implementation and execution. That's why it is critical to understand the asset management considerations pro-actively prior to risks surfacing that could impact the technical and financial performance of the system. Who Benefits and Flattening Out the "Duck" CurveWe aren't able to discuss battery storage without mention of the "duck" curve load profile. In areas of high solar penetration, significant excess generation occurs during the middle portion of the day when the load is relatively low, requiring conventional generation to reduce output to maintain stability of the grid. However, in the evening, the load increases dramatically when the solar generation has tailed off. This requires conventional generation to ramp up at a high rate to meet the demand, resulting in costly startup costs and the need for added generation for short periods of time.Adding battery storage to solar assets, or as stand-alone facilities located in these high penetration areas, is beneficial to utilities and grid operators by smoothing out ramping requirements and increases grid reliability by managing how energy is dispatched from solar projects to better match the load profile of the region. Furthermore, battery storage is beneficial to asset owners because it allows for consistency of availability and off-take for solar projects, potentially increasing revenue from the project, particularly where offtake agreements have time of day pricing.A Closer Look at Solar to Storage Asset Management Factors Increasingly, energy providers need to understand the changing profiles of participants who benefit from solar plus battery technology, and considerations for asset management in order to optimize the battery systems and reduce performance risk during their operating life. For context, 215 MW of solar energy projects were installed in the US in 2017, the majority at the utility scale, and this is expected
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