Utility BESS Handbook/Handbook Introduction

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BESS Handbook Index
Home Page
1. Introduction and RACI Tables
2. Planning
3. Procurement
4. Deployment and Integration
5. O&M
6. Decommissioning and EOL

This handbook serves as a practical reference guide for electric utilities that are navigating significant phases of a battery energy storage project’s life cycle. As utility demand for battery energy storage systems (BESS) expands, utilities can improve safety, manage project and financial risk, and potentially reduce costs by leveraging the knowledge and leading practices gleaned from projects across the industry and described in this report.

Battery energy storage is poised to fundamentally reshape the electric power industry. Led by lithium ion battery technology, energy storage capacity additions to electric power systems are growing rapidly across the globe.

Although many aspects of a battery energy storage project are similar to analogous phases in conventional utility asset planning, deployment, and operation, battery energy storage has unique characteristics that utilities must consider for these projects. Additionally, BESS projects often require involvement and close coordination between utility stakeholder groups who may not have had previous experience in working together; such coordination may not be necessary for other infrastructure projects. The successful outcome of a BESS project relies on early identification and implementation of stakeholder roles and their coordination.

This handbook explores the various processes, roles and responsibilities utility departments have in pursuing a battery energy storage project through its life cycle, beginning from the initial planning phase, through procurement and system deployment to facility operations and maintenance, and finally, to the decommissioning phase. Each chapter provides utilities a roadmap for each phase of a project, providing a beginning-to-end guide for a BESS project.

Preparing the Utility Organization for Energy Storage

The successful execution of a battery energy storage project, as stated above, requires the interplay of many stakeholders within the utility, each contributing their respective expertise. Among the utility groups that contribute to a BESS project are engineering, safety, procurement, operations, finance, legal, information technology, and numerous other groups. Coordinating activities across multiple utility groups can be challenging and disjointed at times, particularly when new technologies are being addressed.

Early in BESS project, cross-utility task forces should be established to tap each internal stakeholder’s expertise. To help identify necessary utility groups and their respective roles, EPRI employs an organization tool as a central feature of this report, a tool known as a Responsibility Assignment (RACI) matrix.

A RACI matrix indicates the level of a stakeholder’s involvement in a specific project activity. Table 1-1 lists the four levels of involvement employed in a RACI matrix. There will be a sole party accountable for any specific task, though this party will rely on multiple utility colleagues to be responsible for discrete tasks. Meanwhile, many other utility departments may need to be consulted or informed about activities that impact their areas of responsibility.

Table 1-1 Responsibility Assignment (RACI) Matrix Stakeholder Roles

RACI Role	Definition
Responsible	Does the work to complete the project activity
Accountable	Delegates and reviews project activity, and ensures activity completion per schedule
Consulted	Provides input on work being done and should be consulted prior to project activity
Informed	Needs to be kept in the loop on specific project activity, as outcome likely impacts the Informed party’s work.

Each phase of a battery energy storage project has its own RACI Matrix, which are included in each section of this report and in Appendix A. These RACI matrices define the specific roles for each stakeholder group involved in each phase of an energy storage project.

How to Use this Handbook

The life cycle of an energy storage project has been divided into five phases (see Figure 1 1). The phases used to organize the life cycle of a project are:

• Planning
• Procurement
• Deployment and integration
• Operations and maintenance
• Decommissioning and end-of-life

Figure 1-1 Project Phase Summary - Source: EPRI

The phases should not be considered discrete, independent phases conducted by a single group in isolation, but an integrated process that requires front-end work considering the entire life cycle of the BESS, as well as input from all stakeholders throughout the project. For example, during the planning phase, a utility should consider decommissioning plans and costs so that the BESS end-of-life requirements are considered in advance.

Section 2 of this report describes the planning stage for a battery energy storage project. Section 3 covers the utility procurement of a BESS or its services. Section 4 details activities in the deployment and integration phases of a battery energy storage project. Section 5 describes the operations and maintenance activities for a BESS. And Section 6 provides an overview of the end-of-life, including decommissioning activities, for a battery energy storage project. Each section provides a discussion of utility activities that merit focus during that phase, as well as the utility stakeholders that need to be involved. The sections also include links to relevant resources that describe each project phase in more detail. There is also an annotated list of resources at the end of each section. Readers should consult these resources to learn specifics on a particular phase of a BESS project.

Separately, Appendix A provides more information on the RACI matrix as well as the RACI matrices compiled for each of the five phases for a battery energy storage project.

Note that this document is intended to be a living handbook that will be updated annually as new project learnings and leading practices are developed. Also, though it builds from the Energy Storage Integration Council (ESIC) Energy Storage Implementation Guide (EPRI, 3002021706), this report is tailored to a utility audience and incorporates a wide range of learnings from the EPRI energy storage research programs.