Wide-Scale Assessment of the Payback of a Battery Energy Storage System Connected to MV Customers

This letter provides a method for assessing the financial benefits of battery energy storage systems (BESS) installed on medium voltage (MV) customers. A large set of 4,853 real Brazilian MV customers are assessed so that reliable quantitative information and realistic insights can be obtained. Results show that a BESS can reduce customer bill by 1.2% (conservative case) to 7.5% (ideal case), leading to a payback time between 8.4 years (ideal case) and 27.3 years (conservative case). Thus, the studied case indicates the BESS can already be economically viable for MV customers with a predictable, stable consumption profile, especially those with a time-of-use tariff structure for demand and energy, where a BESS benefit closer to the ideal case can be obtained. These results are useful to guide the customer decision-making on acquisition of a BESS, regulatory agencies on when to adjust or establish new incentives for BESS integration, and future research to quantify the benefits of new applications.