A modeling framework for equitable deployment of energy storage in disadvantaged communities

This paper provides an analytical framework to incorporate the deployment of behind-the-meter energy storage coupled with rooftop solar, and their associated revenue streams, in the context of equitable energy policy interventions. We propose an extension to the Justice40 optimization model by adding storage and incorporating more realistic solar compensation mechanisms, such as net-billing, which allows for temporal revenue differentiation and the economic viability of behind-the-meter energy storage devices. The extended model includes household-level PV plus storage co-deployment alongside existing interventions, such as weatherization, rooftop PV only, community solar, and community wind. We introduce an innovative approximation approach to capture storage operations and revenue streams without increasing the model’s temporal complexity, preserving computational efficiency. A case study of 3,651 energy-insecure households in Wayne County, Michigan, is used to validate the model and analyze battery deployment as a resource for equitable energy policy interventions. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves comparable outcomes to fully time-resolved models. The results also show that, under net-billing rates, energy storage can be strategically and cost-effectively deployed to address extreme energy burden cases, while rooftop PV is more broadly implemented as a universal solution to mitigate energy insecurity.