An Evaluation of the Effect on the Expansion of Photovoltaic Power Generation According to Renewable Energy Certificates on Energy Storage Systems: A Case Study of the Korean Renewable Energy Market

Abstract

As part of efforts to cope with climate change, countries around the world have decided to supply photovoltaic (PV) power. However, since the integration of PV affects the reliability and stability of a power system, increasing the penetration of PV generation requires better system flexibility. For this reason, many countries have recently established policies to disseminate energy storage systems (ESS). In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of policies regarding ESS as a way to increase PV integration. We analyzed whether the policies were effective in spreading ESS to eventually increase PV integration. To do this, we first described the Korean government's policy of establishing a profit structure for ESS through the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) market and analyzed its effects on economic feasibility. We also analyzed how much the investment in ESS for PV integration has risen and assessed the contribution of spreading ESS to disseminate PV power. We found that ESS for the integration of PV have grown to a 41.0% share of Korea's ESS market in kW, and 32.8% in kWh, while expanding the PV market by 13.7%.