The span of power markets today is too big. Market participation by net metering applying tariffs across a whole region makes no sense if power from the seller cannot physically get to the would-be buyer. Power markets are intrinsically local. (This is net of transmission/distribution line capacity and topology, whether or not particular transformers can “run backward”, etc.). Atop this, one must factor in the line loss transforming up from the local small-scale prosumer
For such local markets, there needs to be some equivalence of market participant scale. A large factory does not order wholesale supplies from the corner store in any non-power market. A bidder who works at an order of magnitude larger scale than anyone else deforms the local market. A local market may reach aggregate scale large enough to participate with bigger players.
Once one breaks the market down into the local smaller markets, storage can easily participate, either as part of portfolio management within a prosumer, or independently as a merchant battery within the local market. Local markets open the way to replace central battery control with autonomous power storage systems.
Different storage systems have different participation characteristics; fast or slow charge, fast or slow discharge, switching from charge to discharge, etc. Running a specific storage technology into the wrong participation scenario can degrade the system, or even result in “rapid unplanned energy discharge” (fire and explosions). We need the room to experiment with different strategies for market participation for different storage technologies, or even hybrid storage systems wherein several technologies are working together as a single participant. This experimentation will not happen in a centrally owned, operated, and regulated environment.
Large central markets may try to emulate this by targeting specific prices at specific devices or groups of devices. This attempt at direct control by proxy across neighborhood and region will not work much better than direct control does.