New Urban Energy Storage

Summary of findings and limitations The case study's results, summarized in Table 7, demonstrated that the scope and economic potential of different energy storage technologies and configurations (single and hybrid) for improving the energy performance of an urban energy community depends on (and varies with) its built context (form and function).

Case study The case study intends to demonstrate the merits of the analytical framework and exhibit the influence of urban context on energy storage prospects. It evaluates and compares the techno-economic potential of ESSs (of single and hybrid types) for improving the performance of energy communities of different urban built types.

In urban areas, community energy storage serves various purposes including increasing self-consumption, enabling the seamless integration of intermittent renewables, and providing economic incentives (Barabino et al., 2023; Koirala et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2023).

The results imply that compact low-rise urban areas (energy communities) can potentially improve their self-sufficiency by benefiting from a short-term energy storage solution (Li-ion battery ESS) while still achieving some savings in annual energy costs. However, they may also require the export of some surplus energy. 4.3.

Economic potential of energy storage type varies with the built context. Li-ion batteries are economically viable solution for self-sufficiency improvement. Reversible fuel cells are suitable as a long-term storage solution.

The aspiration of urban sustainability cannot be materialized without the transformation of the buildings sector (IEA, 2021) because it accounts for >50 % of electricity consumption and almost 30 % of final energy consumption worldwide (IEA, 2019).