Dispatch control strategy for frequency regulation & energy time shift using battery energy storage system

With tremendous efforts being put in for escalation of renewable penetration in power systems globally, primarily due to energy security and environmental concerns, research and development in Energy Storage Systems (ESS) has gained pace on academics as well as industrial platforms. The capabilities of ESS in general and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in particular for providing various grid support services have been known and proved for a long time. However, high capital requirements restricted large deployments of such systems. Recent developments in generation and load patterns demand high flexibility in various facets of the power system value chain to ensure stability, hence making ESS deployments inevitable.

Deployment of BESS is less of an infrastructure project and more of a design based initiative. The philosophy behind the economics of any BESS project is highly dependent upon the life cycle of the system and the extent of service/support provided by the system. Both these parameters in turn are largely dependent upon the dispatch control strategy of the BESS which may be carried out by local Battery Management System (BMS)/Supervisory Control System/Power Management System (PMS) or a remote Dispatch Control Centre. A prudent design of the control strategy not only extends the life of the batteries but also maximizes the grid support service provided by the BESS and tariff gained depending upon the tariff mechanism. Such methods may also help a single system to provide several services simultaneously by defining allocations and priorities by the utility.

This paper brings forward the issues and challenges to be tackled while developing a dispatch control strategy for BESS. Also simulations have been carried out in MATLAB Simulink platform for a BESS providing frequency regulation and energy time shift service. The results bring forward the impact of the changes in the control strategy on the overall system performance and utilization in a lucid manner. It helps to realize the research potential in this area which would be reflected as huge economic impacts during large deployments of BESS in the grid.