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The metering system of the new generation smart substation is a digital energy metering system, which consists of an electronic voltage transformer, an electronic current transformer, a merging unit and a digital energy meter or a multi-function device integrated with a digital energy meter function and an electric energy collecting terminal.
With these new technologies, the aims of high degree of integration system, reasonable structure, advanced equipment, and economic energy saving are expected to be achieved. As a major part of the smart grid, the smart substation has entered a comprehensive construction stage.
The development strategy and planning should be made through the top design of new generation smart substations. The top-level design is a system project composed of a construction goal, key technology research, key equipment development, and near-long-term conceptual design scheme.
The new generation smart substation will focus on new equipment, new materials, new technologies, primary electricity, and secondary light, which is characterized by power electronic technology and can rapidly achieve flexible control of energy and contains AC and DC mixed supply function.
Energy storage technologies, store energy either as electricity or heat/cold, so it can be used at a later time. With the growth in electric vehicle sales, battery storage costs have fallen rapidly due to economies of scale and technology improvements.
Small-scale lithium-ion residential battery systems in the German market suggest that between 2014 and 2020, battery energy storage systems (BESS) prices fell by 71%, to USD 776/kWh.
Hence, the cost-efficient size of the battery energy storage system increases as the battery market prices drop equal to 2 kWh for the scenario in which the battery system’s market price is equal to 200 €/kWh and reaches over 8 kWh when the market prices ideally drop to around 100 €/kWh.
The 2020 Cost and Performance Assessment provided installed costs for six energy storage technologies: lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, lead-acid batteries, vanadium redox flow batteries, pumped storage hydro, compressed-air energy storage, and hydrogen energy storage.
Electrochemical and other energy storage technologies have grown rapidly in China Global wind and solar power are projected to account for 72% of renewable energy generation by 2050, nearly doubling their 2020 share. However, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are liable to intermittency and instability.
Jiang, H. et al. Globally interconnected solar-wind system addresses future electricity demands. Nat. Commun. 16, 4523 (2025). Peng, L., Mauzerall, D. L., Zhong, Y. D. & He, G. Heterogeneous effects of battery storage deployment strategies on decarbonization of provincial power systems in China. Nat. Commun. 14, 4858 (2023).
Nat. Commun. 13, 3172 (2022). Lu, T. et al. India’s potential for integrating solar and on- and offshore wind power into its energy system. Nat. Commun. 11, 4750 (2020).
The energy storage industry is going through a critical period of transition from the early commercial stage to development on a large scale. Whether it can thrive in the next stage depends on its economics.
Although academic analysis finds that business models for energy storage are largely unprofitable, annual deployment of storage capacity is globally on the rise (IEA, 2020). One reason may be generous subsidy support and non-financial drivers like a first-mover advantage (Wood Mackenzie, 2019).
Business Models for Energy Storage Rows display market roles, columns reflect types of revenue streams, and boxes specify the business model around an application. Each of the three parameters is useful to systematically differentiate investment opportunities for energy storage in terms of applicable business models.
Where a profitable application of energy storage requires saving of costs or deferral of investments, direct mechanisms, such as subsidies and rebates, will be effective. For applications dependent on price arbitrage, the existence and access to variable market prices are essential.
In application (8), the owner of a storage facility would seize the opportunity to exploit differences in power prices by selling electricity when prices are high and buying energy when prices are low.
A normal solar power system for an average single-family home in Switzerland costs around CHF 15,000 after subsidies and tax savings. The higher the self-consumption and the proportion of solar energy produced in the total energy requirements, the faster the solar system pays for itself.
On February 1, 2023, Switzerland held its first auction for one-off payments for large photovoltaic (PV) systems. 94 applicants received payments ranging from CHF 360 to CHF 640 per kilowatt (kW), supporting a total capacity of 35 MW. In 2021, Switzerland's photovoltaic (PV) installations increased to 685 MWp from 475 MWp in 2020.
In 2022, Switzerland derived 6% of its electricity from solar power. Studies show that installing solar panels on mountaintops in the Swiss Alps could produce at least 16 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year, approaching half of the nation's 2050 solar energy target.
Installing solar panels on a multi-family home with nine residents spread across four apartments and a heat pump pays off in almost all Swiss cities and communes. The median lies at a return of 10.5 percent. On average, 63 percent of the solar power generated is consumed at home.
