Agere launches storage project valuation platform

Spanish consultancy Agere Energy & Infrastructure Partners has launched BESO 2.0 (Battery Energy Storage Optimizer), an Excel-based platform designed to support the analysis and optimization of energy storage projects.

According to the company, the tool is intended to reduce modeling processes that can take days or weeks to complete to a matter of minutes. It is designed to support project evaluation from initial feasibility studies through final investment decisions.

One of the platform’s main features is automated storage system sizing. Agere said the software evaluates hundreds of power and energy capacity combinations to identify configurations that maximize financial metrics such as net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR).

BESO 2.0 supports standalone battery projects, as well as hybrid and tri-hybrid configurations combining storage with solar, wind, or hydropower assets. The platform allows users to model each technology with its own temporal and financial parameters.

Agere said the software performs hourly simulations across an asset’s full operating life rather than relying on representative years. It incorporates battery degradation, round-trip efficiency (RTE), state of charge (SoC), state of health (SoH), and grid import and export constraints at the point of connection.

The company said its methodology uses Monte Carlo simulations to assess the economic value of storage flexibility. According to Agere, storage revenues depend on periods of market volatility rather than average electricity prices. Instead of applying a single hourly price curve repeatedly, the platform generates multiple price trajectories intended to reflect different market conditions.

Agere said Monte Carlo simulations also enable probabilistic risk analysis. Rather than producing a single NPV or IRR value, the software generates result distributions and metrics including P10, P50, P90, Value at Risk (VaR), Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR), and Sharpe ratios.

The company said the approach is aimed at lenders and investors seeking more detailed assessments of project risk. The platform can be used to evaluate the probability of achieving a positive NPV, the impact of price volatility on returns, and the effect of different power purchase agreement (PPA) structures on project economics.

Price simulations are generated using VIVO Price, Agere’s electricity price forecasting service. The methodology combines hydrothermal coordination modeling, unit commitment simulations, and Monte Carlo analysis incorporating uncertainty in demand, generation capacity, storage deployment, renewable resource availability, fuel prices, carbon allowance costs, interconnection flows, and plant outages.

According to Agere, resulting scenarios are calibrated against electricity market futures curves and grouped into Low, Central, and High market cases.

The platform also evaluates contractual structures. It supports seven types of power purchase and flexibility agreements, including tolling, baseload, floor-cap, collar, shaped, contract-for-difference (CfD), and as-produced arrangements.

Unlike many cloud-based platforms, BESO 2.0 operates entirely within Microsoft Excel and runs locally on users’ computers. Agere said this simplifies auditing, reduces training requirements, and allows data to remain within corporate IT environments.

Subscription plans range from €390 to €2,490 per month, depending on portfolio size, project complexity, and the number of users.

From pv magazine España