How an Energy Storage System Can Benefit the Electricity Grid

Battery energy storage systems are versatile and can be used for several grid services. These include peak shaving, load shifting, and emergency backup power.

They can be found in multiple segments of the electricity grid-the transmission network, distribution network, co-located with renewable generators, or at commercial buildings and homes.

Optimal Energy Management

The optimal energy management of energy storage systems is critical to ensuring that they provide value to the electricity grid. Energy storage systems allow for greater flexibility in the grid by shifting energy consumption to non-peak times, thereby reducing the need to build costly new power plants.

Moreover, ESS technologies can enable the electrification of different economic sectors, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and heating/cooling systems. This will help reduce carbon emissions and create a more resilient energy infrastructure that is less reliant on fossil fuels.

Battery energy storage systems store energy by charging during cheaper hours and discharging during more expensive ones. They can be used for peak shaving, solar self-consumption, and as an emergency back-up during power outages. Battery energy storage systems consist of multiple, swappable battery modules, onboard sensors, and control components.

A study in a residential microgrid with an ESS and a CHP unit uses an online energy management system to determine the best operating point of the system using forecasted load and renewable energy generation. The goal is to minimize the per-day electricity cost charged through time-of-use pricing while satisfying the operational constraints of the DGs and BESS. The system is optimized using a PSO algorithm. It also incorporates sensitivity analysis and reliability criteria.

Smart Grid Solutions

Modern energy storage systems allow consumers and businesses to be a part of the clean energy revolution with cost savings and reliability. They also help energy grids, including microgrids, operate more cost effectively and efficiently to provide power at Energy storage system the flip of a switch. By storing electricity, an ESS can address solar or wind intermittency and make clean energy available consistently.

Energy storage solutions can deliver many other valuable services for utilities and the grid, such as power quality improvements (power factor, voltage and current harmonics, sag, swell, transients, flicker), support distribution system stability, provide peak demand reduction, provide operating reserves, ancillary services and more. This is why leading providers offer a wide range of behind-the-meter and in-front-of-the-meter battery energy storage systems that can support a variety of customer applications.

For the grid, battery energy storage systems are ideally suited to provide a broad set of smart grid capabilities. When renewable energy production surges during windy days or hours of peak sun, BESSs charge, injecting power to the grid. During drops in generation or spikes in demand, BESSs can discharge power to support the system. This helps to reduce transmission and distribution network costs, improves the performance of renewable energy integration into the grid, and enables the rapid restoration of the power grid following a blackout. To achieve these benefits, the right batteries are essential. While lead-acid batteries have a long cycle and calendar life, they lack the ability to respond quickly to large fluctuations in demand, so Li-ion technologies are now the preferred choice.

Reduced Energy Bills

Energy storage can help lower electricity costs by enabling new renewables, reducing demand charges and cutting peak power costs for commercial customers.

Our electricity bills are essentially composed of two costs: the cost to supply our homes and businesses with power and the cost to deliver that energy to our facilities. Energy storage can help reduce supply costs by storing electricity produced at times when it is cheaper to generate (like during off-peak periods) and discharging that power at higher-demand times (like the hottest summer days when everyone is running their air conditioners).

For business and residential customers on demand charge utility tariffs, battery energy storage systems can eliminate demand charges entirely by guaranteeing that they will not draw more than a predetermined amount of power from the grid at peak rates, a practice known as peak shaving. This will help businesses avoid high demand charges and keep their bills low, while also enabling them to use solar arrays to reduce their energy bills even further.

Energy storage systems can also be used for behind-the-meter solar self-consumption, allowing homeowners to store excess power from their rooftops during the day and use it at night when the prices of electricity are highest. This can be especially beneficial for customers on utilities that don’t offer net metering programs. Energy storage can also play an important role in the UK’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario by providing front-of-the-meter flexibility services including operating reserves, frequency regulation and voltage control to the grid.

Increased Resilience

Energy storage systems increase reliability by mitigating renewables’ intermittent nature and guarantee a steady flow of electricity. They are a great solution for homes and businesses with access to solar panels and want to take advantage of the self-consumption benefit or for those in states that don’t offer net metering.

GRID SERVICES

Large-scale energy storage helps solve network congestion issues by storing excess power generated during off-peak hours and then releasing it to the grid during peak times. Energy storage can also provide emergency backup, frequency regulation and other grid services.

HOME ENERGY STORAGE

Home battery systems can help homeowners make Energy storage system the most of their solar arrays by allowing them to store electricity for use at night. They are also a good option for people who live in states with unreliable electricity or where local energy policies restrict the use of renewables.

The latest battery systems for residential solar energy come with built-in inverters that change the DC current from solar panels into AC current that can power appliances and equipment. They are a turnkey, all-in-one system that is easy to install and largely maintenance-free.

Other types of energy storage systems include pumped-storage hydroelectric dams, thermal (molten salt and compressed air) and flywheel energy storage. Flow batteries, which use the circulation of liquid electrolytes to charge and discharge electrons through redox reactions to generate electricity, are another newer technology. They are designed with recyclable components and last longer than traditional batteries.