LFC with Battery Energy Storage System

(BESS)
Energy storage has been the most challenging and complex issue of the industry whether it is
the electric utilities or for industrial applications. The new and evolving applications are seen
in the areas of electric and electric hybrid vehicles, electric utility storage, portable
electronics and storage of electric energy produced by renewables like solar or wind
generators. The constant need for efficient energy storage has seen the emerging new
technologies which promise reliability, productivity and the use of renewables. Energy
storage can balance the fluctuations in supply and meet the ever growing demand of
electricity. For short duration requirements battery storage can bring about frequency control
and stability and for longer duration requirements they can bring about energy management
or reserves. Storage also can be used to complement primary generation as they can be used
to produce energy during off peak periods and this energy produced can be stored as reserve
power. Storage can play a multi-function role in the electric supply network to manage the
resources effectively.

4.1 Battery energy storage technology

The battery energy storage system (BESS) comprises mainly of batteries, control and
power conditioning system (C-PCS) and rest of plant. The rest of the plant is designed to
provide good protection for batteries and C-PCS. The battery and C-PCS technologies are the
major BESS components and each of these technologies is rapidly developing.

4.1.1 Batteries
The batteries are made of stacked cells where-in chemical energy is converted to
electrical energy and vice versa. The desired battery voltage as well as current levels are
obtained by electrically connecting the cells in series and parallel. The batteries are rated in
terms of their energy and power capacities. Formost of the battery types, the power and
energy capacities are not independent and are fixed during the battery design. Some of the
other important features of a battery are efficiency, life span (stated in terms of number of
cycles), operating temperature, depth of discharge (batteries are generally not discharged
completely and depth of discharge refers to the extent to which they are discharged), selfdischarge
(some
batteries cannot retain their electrical capacity when stored in a shelf and self discharge
represents the rate of discharge) and energy density. Currently, significant development is
going on in the battery technology. Different types of batteries are
being developed of which some are available commercially while some are still in
the experimental stage. The batteries used in power system applications so far are

deep cycle batteries (similar to the ones used in Electric vehicles) with energy
capacity ranging from 17 to 40MWh and having efficiencies of about 7080%. Of
the various battery technologies, some seem to be more suitable (have been used) for
power system applications and these have been discussed briefly below:
a) Lead acid: each cell of a lead-acid battery comprises a positive electrode of lead
dioxide and a negative electrode of sponge lead, separated by a micro-porous material
and immersed in an aqueous sulphuric acid electrolyte (contained in a plastic case).
i)

Flooded type: in the flooded type battery an aqueous sulphuric acid solution is
used. During discharge, the lead dioxide on the positive electrode is reduced to
lead oxide, which reacts with sulphuric acid to form lead sulphate; and the
sponge lead on the negative electrode is oxidized to lead ions, that reacts with
sulphuric acid to form lead sulphate. In this manner electricity is generated
and during charging this reaction is reversed.

ii)

Valve regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA) type: the VRLA uses the same basic
electrochemical technology as flooded lead-acid batteries, except that these
batteries are closed with a pressure regulating valve, so that they are sealed. In
addition, the acid electrolyte is immobilized.

b) Sodium sulphur (NaS): a NaS battery consists of molten sulphur at the positive
electrode and molten sodium at the negative electrode separated by a solid beta
alumina ceramic electrolyte. The electrolyte allows only the positive sodium ions to
go through it and combine with the sulphur to form sodium polysulphides. During
discharge, positive sodium ions flow through the electrolyte and electrons flowing the
external circuit of the battery producing about 2V. The battery is kept at about 300 C
to allow this process.
iii)
c) Lithium ion (Li ion): the cathode in these batteries is a lithiated metal oxide
and the anode is made of graphitic carbon with a layer structure. The
electrolyte is made up of lithium salts dissolved in organic carbonates. When
the battery is being charged, the lithium atoms in the cathode become ions and
migrate through the electrolyte toward the carbon anode where the combine
with external electrons and are deposited between carbon layers as lithium
atoms. This process is reversed during discharge.
d) Metal air: the anodes in these batteries are commonly available metals
with high energy density like aluminium or zinc that release electrons LFC
with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) 36 when oxidized. The cathodes
or air electrodes are often made of a porous carbon structure or a metal mesh
covered with proper catalysts. The electrolytes are often a good hydroxide
(OH-) ion conductor such as potassium hydroxide (KOH). The electrolyte may
be in liquid form or a solid polymer membrane saturated with KOH.

e) Flow batteries: this type of battery consists of two electrolyte reservoirs

from which the electrolytes are circulated (by pumps) through an
electrochemical cell comprising a cathode, an anode and a membrane
separator. The chemical energy is converted to electricity in the
electrochemical cell, when the two electrolytes flow through. Both the
electrolytes are stored separately in large storage tanks outside the
electrochemical cell. The size of the tanks and the amount of electrolytes
determines the energy density of these batteries. However, the power density
in flow-batteries depends on the rates of the electrode reactions occurring at
the anode and cathode. Flow batteries are often called redox flow batteries,
based on the redox (reductionoxidation) reaction between the two
electrolytes in the system.
Some of the main characteristics of flow batteries are: high power, long duration,
power rating and the energy rating are decoupled, electrolytes can be replaced easily, fast
response and can go from charge to discharge modes in about 1ms (because most redox
reactions reaction time is very short), low efficiencies (due to the energy needed to circulate
the electrolyte and losses due to chemical reactions). The system does not have any selfdischarge, as the electrolytes cannot react when they are stored separately.
Amongst all these batteries, the lead-acid battery is the oldest and most
mature technology, which has been used for a majority power system applications. The Liion, NaS and NiCd batteries seem to represent the leading technologies in high-power-density
battery applications. Of these, Li-ion possesses the greatest potential for future development
and optimization. In addition to small size and low weight the Li-ion batteries offer the
highest energy density and storage efficiency close to 100%, which makes them ideally suited
for portable devices. However, some of the major drawbacks Li-ion technology are its high
cost (due to manufacturing complexity arising from the special circuitry to protect the
battery) and the detrimental effect that deep discharging has on its lifetime.
Although NiCd and lead-acid can supply excellent pulsed power, they are large,
contain toxic heavy metals and suffers from severe self-discharge. The NaS battery, although
being much smaller and lighter than NiCd, operates at 300 C and requires constant heat
input to maintain the molten states of the electrolytes. The metalair batteries have low cost
and high energy densities (ideal for many primary battery applications) but are very difficult
to be recharged. The flow batteries are also promising for applications which require long
duration storages due to its non-self-discharge capability. A major drawback of the flow
battery system is the increased capital and running costs associated with the
LFC with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) 37 operation of a chemical plant involving
pump systems, flow control with external storage. The main challenges associated with the
future development of flow-battery technology are concerned with providing increased power
density.

4.1.2 Controls and power conditioning system (C-PCS)

The C-PCS form a vital part of the BESS. It interfaces the batteries to the loads
(utility/end user) and regulates the battery charge/discharge, charging rate, etc. The C-PCS
cost is significant and it can be greater than 25% of the overall energy storage system.
However, this technology is maturing rapidly due to the recent developments in the power
conditioning systems of the renewable and distributed energy sources. At present research is
being carried out to reduce the overall cost, improve reliability, and develop more efficient
and better packaging of power conditioning system. Generally, the BESS C-PCS are designed
to use the BESS to achieve many functions. Such multi-function BESS have been designed in
an attempt to make the BESS technology more economical and cost effective. In order to
develop multifunctional BEES several investigators have suggested many control
philosophies. Some of the studies design controls BESS to directly improve the power system
reliability and operation and the others are indirect applications (normally in the form
of adding new features/providing greater capabilities to custom power devices, SVC,
STATCOM, etc.).

4.2 Incremental BESS Model

Since a BESS can provide fast active power compensation, it also can be used to
improve the performance of load-frequency control (LFC). The LFC problems fundamentally
are that of sudden small load perturbations which continuously disturb the normal operation
of a power system. To balance power supply and load demand at dynamic periods, the
automatic generation control (AGC) in some hydro and/or thermal power plants is
synonymous with the LFC. However, the BES can give fast energy storage action to help the
LFC to repress the system oscillations after load perturbations. In this project investigation on
the effect of a BESS on the LFC has been presented and the method to use a small size is
suggested. Since linearized models are used in the investigations of load-frequency control,
this paper derives an incremental model for the BESS operating at charging mode and
discharging mode. A two-area interconnected power system is considered for the computer
simulation studies. The power system model considers governor dead-band and generation
rate constraint (GRC) to obtain realistic responses. The results show that the dynamic
performance of the system can be greatly improved and overshoots of the dynamic frequency
deviations can be reduced by the BESS. The fundamental configuration of an equivalent BES
system is shown in Fig. 4.1, that containing an equivalent battery composed of parallel/series
connected battery cells, a 12-pulse cascaded bridge circuit connected to a Y / Y
transformer, and a control scheme. The ideal no-load maximum DC voltage of the 12-pulse
converter is expressed as

E DO=E D 1 +E D 2=2

3 6
V
t

where

Vt

is the line to neutral r.m.s. voltage. The terminal voltage of the equivalent

battery is obtained from

V BT =E DO cosRc I BES

Where

3 6
6
V t ( cos 1+ cos 2) X CO I BES

X CO =

commutating reactance

I BES =

DC current flowing into equivalent battery

1=
2=

firing delay angle of converter 1

firing delay angle of converter 2

Figure 4.1. Fundamental Configuration of BESS in Power System

The equivalent circuit of BESS can be represented as a converter connected to an

equivalent battery as shown in Fig. 4.2 with a same cosine value of the firing delay angles in
equation (4.1). In the battery equivalent circuit:
V BOC =

Battery open circuit voltage

V B 1= Battery over voltage

RBT = Connecting resistance
RBS = Internal resistance

RB 1 = Over-voltage resistance
C B 1= Over-voltage capacitance
RBP = self-discharge resistance
C BP= Battery capacitance

Figure 4.2. Equivalent Circuit of BESS

We can obtain the expression of the DC current flowing into the battery from the
equivalent circuit analysis as

I BES=

B BT V BOC V B 1
R BT + R BS

where

V BOC =

R BP
I
1+s R BP C BES
BP

V B 1=

RB 1
I
1+ s RB 1 C B 1 BES

According to the converter circuit analysis, active power and reactive power absorbed
by the BESS are:
PBES =

3 6
V I (cos 1 +cos 2)
t BES

Q BES=

3 6
V I (sin 1+ sin 2 )
t BES

There are two control strategies:

i)

PQ modulation:

PBES=

66
V I cos
t BES

Q BES=

6 6
V t I BES sin

ii. P modulation:

PBES=

1= 2 =

1= 2 =

66
V I cos
t BES
E DO I BES cos =V CO I B ES

QBES =0

where

V CO = E DO cos

, is the DC voltage without overlap. Since, only

incremental active power is considered in LFC, we select P modulation in this project.

Linearization of (4.2) gives the incremental power of BESS:

PBES =V CO I BES + I BES V CO

The

I BES

will be negative when the BESS is under continuous charging mode

due to the increment of battery voltage

V BOC

and

V B1

. Although constant current

operating mode is the most efficient for the BESS, we should adjust the firing angle

that is

V CO

in (4.3), to keep the BESS in constant power mode for the sake of load

frequency control. We decompose

V CO

into two components:

(a)

E DO V f

, to compensate the power deviation caused by

(b)

E DO V s

, to respond to the system disturbance.

I BES

and

We can obtain:
0

PBES =V CO I BES + I BES E DO ( V f + V s )=I BES E DO V s

cos0
If we let, V f = I 0 I BES
BES
Then the use of BESS in LFC is obtained by a damping signal,
V s=

where

K BP
( NACE)
1+ s T BP
K BP

and

T BP

are the control loop gain and the measurement device time constant

respectively. The NACE is a useful feedback from the power system in order to provide
damping effect. Combination of above equations, the incremental model of the BES is shown
in Fig. 4.3. The discharging mode operation of the BESS also can be expressed by Fig. 4.3.
The power consumption of the BESS is
PBES =E DO I BES cos =V CO I BES
PBES =I 0BES E DO V s

Figure 4.3. Block Diagram of BESS Incremental Model

4.3 MATLAB Modelling and Simulation