Energy storage for industrial decarbonisation: a case study on water distribution networks

Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) play a vital role in storing carbon-neutral yet variable Renewable Energy (RE) for later use, facilitating demand response and reducing grid reliance. Although ESS integration with RE systems has been widely studied, limited research examines its role in the decarbonisation of industrial and critical infrastructures such as Water Distributi on Networks (WDNs). This paper presents an optimisation framework to evaluate the impact of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) on the performance of PPA-based solar PV systems in such contexts. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model was developed to minimise operational costs and carbon emissions under dynamic grid pricing and time-varying carbon intensity. Two scenarios were analysed: PPA-PV with grid interaction only, and PPA-PV integrated with a 3 MW/6 MWh BESS. Results show that BESS integration reduced grid imports by 8.2% in summer and 10.3% in winter, while lowering carbon emissions by 35.6% and 27.3%, respectively. Operational costs declined by 1.6% in summer and 5.9% winter. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of Storage in improving renewable utilisation, reducing grid dependency, and accelerating industrial decarbonisation under PPA-based RE systems.