A battery energy storage system (BESS) captures energy from renewable and non-renewable sources and stores it in rechargeable batteries (storage devices) for later use.
A battery is a Direct Current (DC) device and when needed, the electrochemical energy is discharged from the battery to meet electrical demand to reduce any imbalance between energy demand and energy generation.
The increase in renewable energy sources and drive to achieve net zero carbon make BESS an essential technology for commercial and industrial organisations. By adopting BESS, it can provide a vital pathway in the transition to green energy and accelerate your journey towards net zero.
The term MNZT “Minimum Non Zero Time” 🪫in the context of battery energy storage refer to the shortest time period in which a battery can store energy before it starts to discharge or lose its stored energy.
This time period can vary greatly depending on the type of battery, its capacity, the load it’s supplying, and other factors.
The importance of energy storage, particularly in batteries, is immense in the context of renewable energy and the transition to a climate-neutral economy. Batteries play a crucial role in the rollout of zero-emission mobility and the storage of intermittent renewable energy. They are instrumental in helping power the rising digital economy and an ever-growing number of portable electronics.
As for the way forward, the future of energy storage is promising but also challenging. The global demand for batteries is increasing, driven largely by the imperative to reduce climate change through electrification of mobility and the broader energy transition. The entire lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery chain, from mining through recycling, could grow by over 30 percent annually from 2022 to 2030, when it would reach a value of more than $400 billion and a market size of 4.7 TWh.
BESS & NETWORK SYSTEM SERVICES🔋
Voltage control services
• BESS can be used to provide locational ancillary services.
• For example, voltage may drop at the end of long power lines in a disperse network, which can lead to increased faults and outages. Voltage can fluctuate more as supply-side volatility increases with higher VRE penetrations.
• This type of service requires the BESS to be located at a site where the voltage support will be effective.
• Another example of a locational system service would be using the BESS to improve system reliability in a specific locality; for example, covering an economically important industrial park. This could provide a useful way of addressing the concerns of investors in industrial or manufacturing facilities, without having to address all the complex and interrelated challenges of the electricity system simultaneously.
BESS & FREQUENCY CONTROL SERVICES 🔋
• The provision of other ancillary services is less dependent on location.
• For example, reserve services or frequency response could potentially be provided anywhere on the system, subject to connection constraints.
• BESS can respond much more quickly than many other flexibility providers, providing a response in less than 1 second. As VRE increases, this results in declining system inertia, which in turn results in a higher rate of change of frequency (ROCOF). Higher ROCOF increases the demand for very fast frequency response services.
• The graph illustrates how BESS can be used to restore system stability. System frequency typically needs to be maintained within a fixed band (typically 50 Hz ± 0.5 Hz). If a large generation outage or a sudden drop in outputs from VRE results in a fall in system frequency, the BESS can respond very quickly to restore stability.
RENEWABLE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS ? 🪫
Lithium-ion batteries were developed by a British scientist in the 1970s and were first used commercially by Sony in 1991, for the company’s handheld video recorder. While they’re currently the most economically viable energy storage solution, there are a number of other technologies for battery storage currently being developed. These include:
Compressed Air Energy Storage:
- With these systems, generally located in large chambers, surplus power is used to compress air and then store it. When energy is needed, the compressed air is released and passes through an air turbine to generate electricity.
Mechanical Gravity Energy Storage:
- One example of this type of system is when energy is used to lift concrete blocks up a tower. When the energy is needed, the concrete blocks are lowered back down, generating electricity using the pull of gravity.
Flow Batteries:
- In these batteries, which are essentially rechargeable fuel cells, chemical energy is provided by two chemical components dissolved in liquids contained within the system and separated by a membrane.
SHORT TERM OPERATING RESERVE – STOR 🪫
Battery storage systems play a crucial role in the energy sector, particularly as a short-term operating reserve (STOR). STOR is a service that provides additional active power from generation or demand reduction. In the context of battery storage, it refers to the ability of a battery storage system to store energy when demand is low and then release it when demand is high. This helps balance the grid, ensuring that supply always meets demand.
Battery storage systems are particularly useful for integrating renewable energy sources like solar and wind into the grid. These sources are intermittent, meaning they don’t always produce power when it’s needed (for example, solar panels don’t produce power at night). Battery storage systems can store excess power produced during peak production times and then release it during times of high demand.
California is a world leader in energy storage with the largest fleet of batteries that store energy for the electricity grid. Energy storage is an important tool to support grid reliability and complement the state’s abundant renewable energy resources. These technologies capture energy generated during non-peak times to be dispatched at the end of the day and into the evening as the sun sets and solar resources go offline, reducing dependence on fossil fuel generation to meet peak loads.
