Load Leveling Reduces T&D Line Losses

The benefit of shifting load from the peak to the off-peak period is well known from the viewpoints of demand response and deferral of capacity upgrade. However, the impact of load leveling on reducing transmission and distribution (T&D) losses is often ignored or lightly mentioned in the literature. A detailed analysis of T&D loss reduction is very specific to the considered power system and cannot be readily generalized. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to identify the key parameters and quantify the saved T&D losses as a function of the size or power of the energy storage in a set of normalized charts to help assess the benefits of energy storage as a means to level a utility load. This is a benefit of utility-scale energy storage that is not fully recognized.