How much does energy storage cost a microgrid?

In commercial/industrial and utility microgrids, soft costs (43% and 24%, respectively) represent significant portion of the total costs per megawatt. Finally, energy storage contributes significantly to the total cost of commercial and community microgrids, which have percentages of 25% and 15%, respectively, of the total costs per megawatt.

What is a microgrid cost model?

The U.S. Department of Energy commissioned the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to complete a microgrid cost study and develop a microgrid cost model. The goal is to elucidate the variables that have the highest impact on costs as well as potential areas for cost reduction. This study consists of two phases.

Can microgrid cost information be collected?

Despite the relative novelty of the microgrid market and the challenges faced when discussing microgrid costs, it is a very useful exercise to collect cost information from the microgrid community and better understand component costs and differences from one project to another. The principal goal in Phase I of the study was to collect data.

Why is a microgrid more expensive than a main grid?

High cost. In general, power from a microgrid today is more expensive than power from the main grid. Cost drivers: Need for redundancy to achieve high reliability. Most microgrids are built around existing distribution circuits, which were not designed for microgrids.

How much does a microgrid cost per megawatt?

The analysis of total microgrid costs per megawatt shows that the community microgrid market has the lowest mean, at $2.1 million/MW of DERs installed; followed by the utility and campus markets, which have mean costs of $2.6 million/MW and $3.3 million/MW, respectively. Finally, the commercial market has the highest average cost, at $4 million/MW.

Does a microgrid control system cost more?

The control system for the smaller microgrid will likely cost less in real dollars but consume more of the overall project budget than the control system for the larger one. “Your control system may be a little less [costly] in smaller ones, but it’s going to be a much larger portion of the cost than in the larger one.