Evaluation of a Battery Energy Storage System for Coordination of Demand Response and Renewable Energy Resources

Distributed generation often relies upon variable energy sources such as wind and solar. As the adoption of renewable energy increases, this presents a challenge for coordinating the availability of electricity with electrical loads. Energy storage technologies potentially relieve instantaneous imbalances between renewable generation and load demand. Demand response and time-of-use pricing policies are being increasingly adopted as means to further balance generation and demand given constraints on transmission and distribution lines under heavy load conditions. A small scale pilot study was conducted that investigates the interactions of renewable energy sources equipped with battery storage that included utility communication interfacing. Four sites were installed with battery-converter systems with an evaluation that included both commercial and residential applications. The residential applications were equipped with 24 kWh rated battery storage systems with remotely controlled charge and discharge capability. The commercial and light industrial installations were evaluated using 48 kWh battery storage systems. The results using a regional time-of-use pricing structure were analyzed. Results indicate distributed generation with battery storage is positively influenced by demand response and time-of-use pricing.