Selection of Energy Storage Systems in the Philippines under the Social, Political, Economic, Legal, and Logistics (SPELL) Framework

Abstract

Energy storage systems (ESS) are essential in establishing renewable energy systems. The implementation of ESS, particularly in countries that have only recently begun their shift toward renewable energy, however, is far from fully realized. Hence, this presents an opportunity to compare different types of ESS using the SPELL framework that identifies criteria based on the social, political, economic, legal, and logistic factors that influence the successful implementation of such systems in countries with developing energy infrastructures, and this is explored in the Philippine context. This study proposes a multi-criteria decision-making method built on a hybridized Best-Worst Method, Analytic Network Process, and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (BWM-ANP-DEMATEL) framework, allowing the interdependence in evaluating the importance of criteria such as price perception, public understanding of ESS, legal frameworks, and supply chain readiness to be considered in the design of the model. It was found that the levelized cost under the economic factors is considered as the most critical criterion for implementation based on both BWM-ANP-DEMATEL (w = 0.1565) and BWM (0.2027) only, representing the methods performed with and without considering influence, while perceived health under social factors is the least critical (0.0477, 0.0286). Application of the selection model on various types of ESS showed that battery-based energy storage systems, particularly lithium-ion batteries, are prioritized, followed by pumped hydro storage due to their relatively affordable cost and more widely available infrastructure compared to most other ESS considered in the study. Meanwhile, flywheel storage is the lowest ranked due to lower familiarity and legal framework for its implementation.