  The growing demand for electricity in emerging markets and developing
economies (EMDE) such as India is causing loading and congestion problems on
distribution networks, particularly in urban locations, that adversely impact
sustainable development and economic growth. Electric utilities in these
economies face unique constraints regarding raising capital required to upgrade
their congested networks. Battery storage has emerged as a non-wire alternative
(NWA) to feeder upgrades. This article presents a flexible valuation framework
for battery storage use in distribution networks and its application in the
context of EMDE distribution network planning. We evaluate the value of storage
as an NWA using a multi-stage decision making process that combines system
optimization with markov-decision processes (MDP) to identify the least-cost
network upgrade strategy under demand growth uncertainty. When applied to
feeders in Delhi, India, the approach highlights the cost-effectiveness of
battery storage to manage load growth while deferring network investments.
Across the low, medium and high battery storage capital cost projections for
2030, we estimate that 18 to 29 GWh of battery storage capacity could be
deployed to defer 11,752 to 15,914 km of medium voltage distribution feeder
lines that are loaded at 60\% or more of their ampere capacity in 2030,
resulting in 12 to 16\% capital cost savings. Interestingly, the lowering
storage capital costs does not always increase NWA storage deployment, due to
network capacity constraints limiting opportunities for off-peak storage
charging.
