XClose
Menu

Project insights

The project started in September 2015. Research results, insights and publications relative to the RESTLESS project will be made available on this page. So far, the following publications are available:

Energy storage event at Church House

RESTLESS organised an event with the C-MADEnS and MY-STORE projects on, "The role of storage in future energy systems: insights and challenges", at Church House, London on 13 November 2018.

80 attendees discussed public perceptions, systems integration, economics and business models, and policy and future challenges for energy storage.

We presented posters on our energy database, modelling challenges, public acceptability and policy research:

Energy Storage Database PosterModelling Methods PosterESTIMO Modelling PosterPublic Acceptability of Energy Storage PosterInstitutional Landscapes for Energy Storage Poster

Public Attitudes to Energy Storage

Our public attitudes research intends to inform members of the public about a range of energy storage options and the major issues surrounding them. You can learn about our insights and their importance when planning storage investments in this presentation. We have found:

  • Many members of the public are unfamiliar with the concept of intermittency and curtailment of renewable generation.
  • Views of energy storage technologies are best characterised as ambivalent and conditional, with no technology or governance wholly acceptable or unacceptable.
  • The desire for both independence and convenience varies between people.
  • Fairness is a key issue that is not given sufficient consideration in policy discourse.

Public engagement materials

An overview of our public engagement research introduces the following aspects of energy storage:

1. Our Technology Factsheets provide a non-technical introduction to 11 key energy storage technologies and describe different options for improving energy system flexibility:

2. Our governance research, see User Relationships with Energy Storage, provides 6 posters describing different ways of managing relationships between energy users, producers and storage technologies providers.

3. Our research on possible futures, see Scenarios for Living with Energy Storage, includes 3 short scenarios or storylines describing how energy storage may impact on a person’s life and local environment.

All of these papers were authored by: Gareth Thomas, Christina Demski and Nick Pidgeon at the University of Cardiff. For research enquiries related to Public Attitudes, please contact Gareth Thomas.

Economics of Energy Storage

Our economics research has focused on energy storage economics in electricity markets, including:

  • Energy storage regulation and policy;
  • Policy options to encourage the deployment of solar PV with energy storage;
  • Consumer’s future financial case for solar PV with storage;
  • The systemic impact of consumer-level distributed energy resources;
  • Subsidies to enable competition of energy storage technologies in future electricity markets.

Energy storage regulation and policy

In 2016, we explored regulatory challenges for energy storage deployment in the UK in a detailed working paper and a more concise policy briefing paper. These studies analysed market, regulatory and policy challenges affecting the innovation process of electrical energy storage technologies.

The briefing paper classified these barriers and identified relationships between them. We updated this research and considered which policy options could help to integrate these technologies more efficiently in the electricity system in a recently-published journal paper. 

For research enquiries related to Economics, please contact Dr Giorgio Castagneto Gissey.

RESTLESS publications

G Castagneto Gissey, J Radcliffe, PE Dodds, 2017. Market and regulatory barriers to electrical energy storage innovation. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, pp.781-790.

G Castagneto Gissey, J Radcliffe, PE Dodds, 2016. Regulatory Barriers to Energy Storage Deployment: The UK Perspective. RESTLESS Briefing Paper.

G Castagneto Gissey, J Radcliffe, PE Dodds, 2016. Regulatory Challenges to Energy Storage Deployment: An Overview of the UK Market. RESTLESS Working Paper.

Conference presentations