This research addresses strategic recommendations regarding the applications of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the context of the deregulated electricity market. The main emphasis is on regulatory dimensions, incentive mechanisms, and the provision of marketable storage services. The study’s findings demonstrate that battery energy storage systems (BESS) have distinct characteristics that challenge their conventional classification as a load or generator within power systems. The study additionally emphasizes the insights, lessons learned, and good practices gained from early adopter countries in implementing energy storage systems (ESS). These insights include the importance of establishing a precise definition of ESS, promoting collaborative engagement with relevant stakeholders, and developing a series of incentive strategies. The results show that nations that pioneered BESS’s application in their electricity matrices have effectively promoted storage services in deregulated markets, employing storage assets for various purposes such as peak reduction, frequency regulation, renewable energy support, and energy arbitrage applications. These applications underline the potential of BESS to increase grid stability and minimize exposure to risk and volatility in the revenues of storage agents in deregulated markets.
The insertion of renewable sources to diversify the energy matrix is one of the alternatives for the energy transition. In this sense, Brazil is one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the world, mainly in wind generation. However, the impact of integrating intermittent sources into the system depends on their penetration level, causing problems in the electrical network. To evaluate this scenario, the present article aims to investigate the power quality problems generated by wind turbines in connection with the electrical system and how battery energy storage systems (BESS) solve or mitigate these disturbances in the network. Knowing the impacts of high generation power variability, the focus of the work is the application of power smoothing. However, results are presented for five applications (factor correction, voltage control, power factor smoothing, frequency control and time shift) that can be carried out at the studied wind farm. This article presents a real BESS, which has a capacity of 1 MW/1.29 MWh, connected in parallel to a group of wind turbines that provides a power of approximately 50.4 MW located in Brazil. In addition to presenting the system simulation in HOMER Pro software, this study validates the effectiveness of this BESS by presenting real operation data for each application.
The transition to a low-carbon energy matrix has driven the electrification of vehicles (EVs), yet charging infrastructure—particularly fast direct current (DC) chargers—can negatively impact distribution networks. This study investigates the integration of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) with the power grid, focusing on the E-Lounge project in Brazil as a strategy to mitigate these impacts. The results demonstrated a 21-fold increase in charging sessions and an energy consumption growth from 0.6 MWh to 10.36 MWh between June 2023 and March 2024. Compared to previous findings, which indicated the need for more robust systems, the integration of a 100 kW/138 kWh BESS with DC fast chargers (60 kW) and AC chargers (22 kW) proved effective in reducing peak demand, optimizing energy management, and enhancing grid stability. These findings confirm the critical role of BESSs in establishing a sustainable EV charging infrastructure, demonstrating improvements in power quality and the mitigation of grid impacts. The results presented in this study stem from a project approved under the Research and Development program of the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL) through strategic call No. 022/2018. This initiative aimed to develop a modular EV charging infrastructure for fleet vehicles in Brazil, ensuring minimal impact on the distribution network.
Increasing wind generation insertion levels on electrical grids through power converters may cause instabilities in the AC grid due to the intermittent wind nature. Integrating a Battery Electric Energy Storage System (BESS) in wind generation can smooth the power injection at the Common Coupling Point (PCC), contributing to the power system voltage and frequency stability. In this article, it is proposed to analyze the operation of a lithium-ion battery technology based 1 MW/1.29 MWh BESS connected in parallel with wind generation with a capacity of 50.4 MW. The main characteristics investigated are power smoothing and power factor correction. Experimental results show that BESS contributes to smoothing the active power and correcting the power factor of wind generation, improving the quality of electrical energy at the PCC.
This article presents a robust analysis based on the data obtained from a genuine microgrid in operation, simulated by utilizing a diesel generator (DG) in lieu of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to meet the same load during periods of elevated energy costs. The study reveals that the BESS significantly outperforms the DG and the conventional electrical grid in various financial and environmental aspects. Environmentally, BESS accounts for zero CO2 emissions, compared to the 67.32 tons of CO2 emitted annually by the DG. Financially, the total cost of BESS over 20 years (USD 1,553,791.31) is lower than that of DG (USD 1,564,965.18) and the electrical grid (USD 2,726,181.09). Furthermore, BESS displays a lower Required Average Discharge Price—RADP (USD 0.38/kWh) and Required Average Price Spread—RAPS (USD 0.18/kWh) compared to DG (RADP: USD 0.39/kWh; RAPS: USD 0.22/kWh) and the electrical grid (RADP: USD 0.71/kWh; RAPS: USD 0.38/kWh). During periods of high-energy tariffs, BESS provides significant environmental benefits, but it also offers a more economically advantageous option to meet the load. It offers an energy-efficient and economically feasible solution for the operation of microgrids.
The search for charging electric vehicles using renewable energy sources and ensuring the stability of the electrical system has been growing. This has led to the development of charging stations that integrate photovoltaic systems, energy storage systems in batteries, and charging stations. The storage system allows for applications that increase the reliability of the electrical network. The objective of this work is to study, based on real operational scenarios, the impacts, and criteria of energy quality of a charging solution containing a photovoltaic system, a storage system, and a charging station. In the solution, the batteries are lead-carbon type and photovoltaics have priority in energy supply, using excess generation to charge the batteries. In this aspect, the work presents relevant contributions to the study of energy quality. An improvement in energy quality is pointed out with the use of batteries, proving that even in the most diverse operating situations, such as partial shading of the photovoltaic modules, with 20% shading relative to the nominal power, charging is not impacted and reductions in distortions are achieved, with a 50% reduction in voltage imbalance, when the storage system is a voltage reference and reference to the microgrid.