Impact Assessment of Different Battery Energy Storage Technologies in Distribution Grids with High Penetration of Renewable Energies

Abstract

The need forincreasing further thepenetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) is demandinga change in the waydistribution grids aremanaged. In particular, the RESs intermittent and stochastic nature isfinding in Battery Energy Storage (BES)systems its most immediate countermeasure. This workpresents a reality-based assessmentand comparison ofthe impact of three different BES technologies on distributiongrids withhigh RES penetration, namelyLi-ion, Zn-Air and Redox Flow.To this end, a benchmark distribution grid with realprosumers’ generationand load profiles is considered, with the RESpenetration purposely scaledupin such a way as to violatethegrid operational limits. Then, further to the BES(s)placementon the most affected grid location(s),the impact of the three BES types is assessed consideringtwo Use Cases: 1) Voltage & Congestion Management and 2) Peak Shaving & Energy shifting. Assessment is conductedbyevaluatinga set of technical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs),together with a simplifiedeconomic analysis.