A comparative probabilistic economic analysis of selected stationary battery systems for grid applications

This Paper focuses on a comparative probabilistic economic comparison of sodium sulfur batteries (NaS), Lithium-Iron Phosphate batteries (LFP), Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRB), Lead Acid batteries (PbA) and a Pumped Hydro Storage Plant (PHS). Two cases for a load leveling and peak shaving storage application were analyzed and compared. The comparison is based on a comprehensive literature review which showed remarkable deviations within most techno-economic values. This makes it difficult to assess the technologies by a deterministic approach. Therefore, a complementary probabilistic approach was developed in form of a Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). The results show clearly that among batteries, PbA have the best cost performance followed by NaS and VRB. LFP has the highest costs within all scenarios. However, PHS is the most cost efficient technology for load leveling. In the case of peak shaving the battery costs decrease significantly due to lower initial investment costs.