Contribution of energy storage to the security of the electricity supply in Europe

This study, carried out with our partners Enerdata and Trinomics, has three objectives: presenting the current state of play of storage technologies (deployment in Member States and key characteristics), identifying the need for various types of flexibility solutions at the 2030 and 2050 horizons, and finally examining the regulatory conditions that should be put in place to enable the market to deliver the appropriate level of energy storage technologies. Artelys’ key contribution is the modelling of the pathways designed by the European Commission in the context of its Long-Term Strategy, and the optimisation of the deployment of flexibility solutions in these scenarios (interconnections, batteries, pumped-hydro storage, power-to-gas, etc.) in various configurations (e.g. several levels of demand-side flexibility). We have then analysed the contribution of each technology in the provision of flexibility on several time-scales, from the daily level to the seasonal level. The key finding is that several technologies have been found to compete to provide short- and medium-term flexibility (e.g. EVs, batteries, pumped-hydro storage, etc.), and that electrolysers will be key to provide seasonal flexibility services and the required levels of decarbonization in the industry, mobility and heating sectors.