Case Study: Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc. achieves a transparent, interactive Energy Storage Valuation Tool with Lumina Decision Systems

Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc. - Customer Case Study

Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc. (E3) needed an open, transparent framework to help the CPUC, CEC, large investor‑owned utilities and other stakeholders evaluate the lifecycle costs and benefits of dozens of energy‑storage technologies (batteries, flywheels, pumped hydro, CAES, etc.). Excel/VBA models proved time‑consuming to update, hard to document, and limited transparency for public review, so E3 engaged Lumina Decision Systems and adopted Analytica (Analytica Optimizer and Analytica Cloud Player) to meet regulatory transparency, optimization, and usability requirements.

Lumina Decision Systems assisted E3 in building the publicly available Energy Storage Valuation Tool that ingests 8,760 hourly load profiles, technology performance and cost inputs, retail rates and financial assumptions to estimate life‑cycle costs, NPV, revenues (including avoided capacity payments), and hourly state‑of‑charge. The Analytica‑based solution delivers an interactive UI, visual influence diagrams, built‑in optimization and sensitivity/uncertainty libraries, enabling users to run scenario analyses in minutes, greatly improving transparency and reducing modeling time versus Excel while allowing utilities and regulators to quantify and compare storage value (for example, for a 180 MW CAES case).

Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc.

Eric Cutter

Project Manager