Battery Storage and Real-Time Price Spikes: Observations from CAISO and ERCOT

Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. A decade ago, everyone was talking about the approaching saturation of power markets like the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) with cheap renewable energy. The consequences of that trend were alleviated somewhat with the ensuing proliferation of energy storage resources that soaked up the excess renewable generation in times of oversupply and discharged during peaks where power was in high demand.