The socio-technical transition of distributed electricity storage into future networks—System value and stakeholder views

Whole system models for the GB electricity system suggest that distributed electricity storage has the potential to significantly reduce the system integration cost for future system scenarios. From a policy perspective, this poses the question why this value should not be realised within existing market structures. Opinion among stakeholders is divided. Some believe that storage deployment constitutes a ‘special case’ in need of policy support. Others insist that markets can provide the necessary platform to negotiate contracts, which reward storage operators for the range of services they could provide. This paper seeks to inform this debate with a process of stakeholder engagement using a perspective informed by socio-technical transition literatures.