Utility Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Handbook
A Handbook for Utility Project Managers and Engineers Involved in the Life Cycle of BESS Projects
Primary Audience
Utility project managers and teams developing, planning, or considering battery energy storage system (BESS) projects SECONDARY AUDIENCE: Subject matter experts or technical project staff seeking leading practices and practical guidance based on field experience with BESS projects
Key Research Question
As the demand for BESS projects expands across electric utilities, sharing of leading practices and lessons learned gleaned from past experience has become essential to adequately addressing safety issues, mitigating project and technical risks, and managing the cost of deployment and operation.
Research Overview
This report summarizes over a decade of experience with energy storage deployment and operation into a single high-level resource to aid project team members, including technical staff, in determining leading practices for procuring and deploying BESSs. The detailed information, reports, and templates described in this document can be used as project guidance to facilitate all phases of a BESS project to improve safety, mitigate risks, and manage costs.
As part of this goal, this report explores the necessary interaction between stakeholders within a utility throughout the life cycle of a BESS project and provides a high-level project narrative to coordinate efforts in a utility BESS project team. A focal point of stakeholder discussion for each project phase is a Responsibility Assignment (RACI) matrix, which organizes tasks chronologically and describes the involvement levels and roles for utility project teams.
This handbook details:
- The life-cycle process for a successful utility BESS project, describing all phases including use case development, siting and permitting, technical specification, procurement process, factory acceptance testing, on-site commissioning and testing, operations and maintenance, contingency planning, decommissioning, removal, and responsible disposal.
- Roles, responsibilities, and coordination between various utility departments for each phase of a BESS project.
- Potential pitfalls, lessons learned, and “unknown unknowns” in the BESS planning and procurement process, where utilities will have to manage risks in a relatively immature product environment.
- Additional, detailed resources on specific topics in this handbook that can be accessed via annotated and digitally linked references.
The following tables serve as both a reference RACI table resource as well as a navigation tool to help users to jump to the most relevant sections of the handbook content.