The demonstration activities in STORY successfully showed the added value that storage can bring to a flexible, secure and sustainable energy system. They showed the possibilities of small and medium scale storages to support the grid in the case of increased share of renewable energy, but also revealed the potential barriers and provided learnings on important aspects when planning an energy storage project.
The technical evaluation of the large-scale storage effects showed that the large-scale implementation of the small and medium scale storages could have positive effects on the grid: self-sufficiency and self-consumption levels can be increased, network losses decreased and RES variability impact on the network can be mitigated. The analysis of the storage technologies’ impact on environmental, social and employment aspects was also conducted, based on Life cycle analysis approach. In the scenarios studied, the most important environmental factor was the amount of PV power installed in the distribution grid and the ability of the grid to transport the PV electricity. The analysis of the employment creation effects showed that the implementation of PV and storage can lead to significant employment opportunities on a global and EU level.
The results of the large-scale simulations were compared with the STORY demos, on three main dimensions: technical results, greenhouse gas impact and economic evaluation. These analyses revealed that storage can have an important role in RES deployment by delaying infrastructure reinforcement or improving power quality. As break-even points from an economic and an environmental perspective might differ and therefore both should be carefully considered. To outweigh potential negative GHG impacts that might occur in case of a wide roll-out, storage needs to be tailored to a specific purpose (e.g. mitigating RES curtailment or peak load shifting).
Regarding the market and regulatory environment, the STORY learnings were collected into a storage deployment handbook. It presents a bird’s eye view on storage business models and regulation followed by a summary of the STORY project recommendations that are supported and further explained in detailed chapters. This way, a holistic overview of storage business models and regulation is presented from different points of view, each chapter addressing a specific stakeholder group.
The impact creation activities in STORY project have been realised on broad front: by disseminating the findings and learnings from the project in newsletters (together with other BRIDGE projects), four project highlight papers, educational and informative movies, with active participation in the BRIDGE work, involving stakeholders in discussions and using the STORY Advisory Board as a trusted advisor for the project activities. There has been impressive visibility for STORY, with over 350 000 views and interactions through website and social media. STORY partners have been invited for talks and presentations on several national and international events. The Suha demo site got exceptional visibility when the Presidents of Slovenia and Finland jointly visited the site.
STORY has advanced products, developed new tools that deliver business-ready solutions and led to a relevant number of commercial contracts. STORY led to new ways of cooperation in the landscape of EU funded projects. STORY also substantially contributed to the policy and regulatory developments e.g. in Flanders, Austria and Slovenia, but also at the European scale.
