Energy Storage Program – ESMAP | BP 2021-2024
Title: Report on lessons learnt and best practices on pre-feasibility assessments for energy storage
Date: May 14, 2024
Brief Description: This deliverable is the completion of a report distilling the lessons learnt and best
practices from pre-feasibility assessments for different countries on energy storage, under grant-
financed activities supported by the Energy Storage Program of ESMAP.
Several technical focus areas have been identified as complementary to the pre-feasibility assessments
which countries carry out under World Bank grant financing through ESMAP’s trust fund. The overall
environment for enabling energy storage deployment and the relevant technical support areas can be
considered under four technical focus areas. All TA activities fell under one or more of the areas
described below:
1. Strategy, policy, and legal advisory: identifying legal, regulatory, and strategic requirements for
storage adoption at the country level are necessary prior to long-term planning for energy
storage as part of an overall transition agenda. Identifying gaps, as well strategic direction and
integrated policy approach is necessary to enable sound and effective planning.
2. Technical and economic analysis: Studies that cover the broader power system from a technical
and economic point of view facilitates a system-wide understanding for the role of storage for
integrating VRE, while contributing to grid modernization and decarbonization. Common
activities under this technical focus area includes power system planning and modeling, VRE
integration studies for BESS deployment, BESS sizing and locational analysis, and operational
functions identification.
3. Investments and business models: Identification of procurement approaches, suitable business
models, and potential value streams for the storage assets identified at the system level through
the technical and economic analysis performed. In some cases, this focus area is bundled in
other studies that combines the technical and economic analysis.
4. Preparation and Implementation: The pre-feasibility studies build on data acquired at the
system level and would evaluating site-specific conditions for further analysis. Commonly pre-
feasibility studies may be cross cutting in the various technical focus areas, which combined
power system modeling, national strategy development, and site-specific prioritization based on
techno-economic viability assessed.
The technical focus areas based on ESMAP’s storage program engagement with operational teams can
be summarized in the following table:
Strateg polic and legal Technical economic n estments business Prepara on and
ad isor anal sis and studies models and nancing mplementa on
e elopment of strategies and Power s stem planning and modeling den ca on of procurement Pre S site speci c e alua ons and
roadmaps for ESS deplo ment public or E integra on studies and grid approaches regional local interna onal assessments and full S for ESS
pri atel owned assessments d namic short circuit etc etc and plans deplo ment
for ESS integra on
Anal sis and de elopment of regulator den ca on of suitable possible Procurement support ES PT
framewor for ESS adop on ESS si ing technolog selec on business models and alue streams de elopment
loca onal anal sis
Polic de elopment and formula on for Technical and transac on ad isor
mar et based deplo ment of ESS for Assessment of the poten al opera onal business model selec on PPA
grid ser ices func ons of the ESS assets iden ed to adapta on de elopment
be technicall and economicall iable
TA ac i es and grants in the o er h informed in estments Technical assistance through arious
current business plan since program incep on mechanisms
Document of the World Bank
Energy Storage Configuration:
From the various engagements, it was observed that there are five primary configurations for the energy
storage systems deployed in World Bank projects. The configurations and modalities vary between
public and private ownership of the storage assets, whether it is stationary or hybrid with renewables,
and whether the renewables are private or publicly owned. An overview of the five configurations are
outlined in the following matrix:
Publicl owned ESS Publicl owned ESS Publicl owned ESS
wned ESS Stand alone ith publicl owned E ith PP owned E
Pri atel owned ESS Pri atel owned ESS
wned ESS
Stand alone ith PP owned E
unloc s e ibilit and dispatchabilit for E and accelerates decarboni a on
The comparison between the five modalities identified can be summarized below, highlighting the
considerations for on asset operational requirements ownership models and the orld an ’s
engagement in supporting regional task teams.
Publicl owned ESS can be stand alone or can be combined with publicl
owned E genera on where all other parameters appl in the same wa
A E
oltage frequenc regula on ESS ser ices de ned b PPA an
oltage and frequenc
egula on utage mi ga on Energ shi ing other u lit needs Ancillar ser ices with mar ets with include ancillar ser ices shi ing
assets connected at T substa ons
for solar wind
for ESS
Ad anced control and Ad anced control and
required for
dispatching capabili es dispatching capabili es
solar wind integra on
and S A A for T and S A A for T
ESS
w E plant
imited concessional nancing Site speci c h bridi a on equires moderni ing T Earl stages in de eloping countries
for targe ng ESS challenges and technical s stem and grid enabling polic i erent business models mmature
imited lit capabili es capabili es for u li es framewor and mar et pipeline of ban able pro ects
on s stem wide on de eloping on renewables
focus on this categor n and site speci c E integra on mar ets and ESS policies roadmaps plus storage plants techno economic
addi on to E plus ESS loca onal studies techno economic and alue streams complemen ng T assessments business model selec on
ndia A ESP TE assessments amongst others moderni a on in estments transac on ad isor and PPA adap on
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Key considerations for planning a pre-feasibility study for energy storage systems:
• Absence of electricity markets limits the private sector participation for storage deployment:
The absence of electricity market constrains the monetization potential for privately owned
energy storage assets. In many developing countries, utilities are vertically integrated, and in
case where the sector is unbundled, there is no mature market of electricity that enable
storage-as-a-service to be planned or deployed. However, there are some promising cases in
several countries, where the necessary frameworks for enabling private investments in storage
assets are indeed being developed (and some are highly functional).
• De-risking measures are necessary in many emerging markets: There are several measures for
de-risking energy storage, whether as standalone, or through hybrid IPP-owned systems. The
pre-feasibility studies that aim to validate economic and technical viability may consider certain
de-risking options provided through the world bank, as means of achieving bankability.
• Integrated planning at the sector level is critical: It is important that any pre-feasibility studies
conducted for specific sites are considered in the broader power system planning dimensions,
considering future planned generation and demand projection.
• Technical and operational capacity for the utility is central to functional storage deployment:
An important consideration is the utilit ’s technical capacit for super isor control and data
acquisition (SCADA), the degree of automation and sophistication of its control infrastructure,
and the competence and experience of its staff. Such capacity is critical in determining the
readiness of the BESS deployment, and the parallel investments in modernizing the power
infrastructure for a smoother integration.
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