Investeringslogik kring energilager i en svensk kontext : En studie av måttet Levelised Cost of Storage

Sammanfattning: Sweden is heading towards a larger portion of renewable, weather dependent energy sources as a part of climate policy. To integrate such energy sources there is an increasing demand of flexibility in the Swedish electricity system. This further indicates a need to understand the rationality behind investments in flexibility resources, such as energy storage and demand response. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the measurement Levelised Cost of Storage (LCOS) is reflecting the way Swedish actors reason about investments in flexibility resources. By qualitative interviews with actors and calculations of LCOS in seven different use cases the investment logic related to energy storage is analysed in a Swedish context. By doing so this study aims to form a basis of how to encourage an effective utilization of the values that flexibility resources can provide. Investments in energy storage and demand response technology are in studied use cases driven by soft values as goodwill, knowledge and comfort. Possible economic savings are often the rational argument for an investment, however, a greater benefit accrue to network operators, technology suppliers, and most of all, the electricity system. Regulations regarding network operators’ required rate of return, ownership and bid requirements on the Swedish power regulation market are currently not promoting a transformation to a completely renewable energy system, in which flexibility resources are seen as presumptions. Soft values and system values are difficult to quantify, which aggravates an understanding of the investment rationality regarding energy storage and demand response in a Swedish context. Several actors pointed out power, primary to energy, as the deficient resource, which increases the problem to assess when investments will occur by using LCOS methodology.