Sandia National Laboratories has developed a software aimed at helping the public better access cost-saving opportunities around energy storage.
Called QuESt, the software also allows utility companies to evaluate the amount of revenue an energy storage system can generate.
“We’re providing an easy-to-use, open-source software suite that people can use to do their own energy storage analysis,” Babu Chalamal, Sandia’s energy storage research program manager, said in a prepared statement. “They could be small utilities or co-ops, vertically integrated utility companies or a project developer who wants to use energy storage. They can take this application suite and evaluate for the needs of their particular project.”
The software, created at Sandia, is multi-faceted. It is intended to help businesses, schools and hospitals evaluate potential cost savings when adding an energy storage system, which is known as a behind-the-meter analysis tool.
The behind-the-meter analysis tool, released in 2019, allows developers or businesses to add their location, type of renewable system they have or plan to install and the amount they pay in rate structure for electricity — which then gives them an estimate in cost savings.
“For example, a homeowner or a warehouse manager who knows nothing about energy storage but wants to install it for their rooftop solar panels, can use QuESt’s streamlined process to learn how much money the energy storage system would save them over a year,” Tu Nguyen, Sandia electrical engineer, said in a statement. Nguyen is the project lead for QuESt.
There’s also a market-analysis tool that can help utilities assess the amount of revenue an energy storage system can generate.
QuESst is currently on version 1.2, Nguyen said in an email to Albuquerque Business First. When the team first developed the software in July 2017, it “included the electricity market-based valuation app in addition to a data acquisition app — QuESt data manager,” Nguyen said.
QuESt’s data manager is used to search independent system operator data, as well as utility rate data for use in QuESt’s other applications.
Electrical engineer at Sandia, Rodrigo Trevizan, said “QuESt provides a very easy way to get at least a first estimate of the potential of the revenue, or cost savings, an energy storage system can generate.”
The project also has a helping hand from Public Service Co. of New Mexico, which is working with Sandia to develop tools that can help utilities — that both produce and sell power — reach carbon free emissions.
Researchers on the QuESt team are still trying to develop the software even further. They plan to create a tool that helps compare different battery storage systems as they age.
Developers interested in using the QuESt software can create their own tools using its framework since it is open source.
QuESt is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity’s Energy Storage program.
The team consists of four researchers and engineers. Nguyen expects to recruit more engineers both internally and externally. QuESt also has two spots open for year-round student interns.
