Performance Characterization for Photovoltaic-Vanadium Redox Battery Microgrid Systems

The integration of photovoltatics (PV) and vanadium redox batteries (VRB) in microgrid systems has proven to be a valuable, environmentally friendly solution for reducing the dependency on conventional fossil fuel and decreasing emissions. The integrated microgrid system must be characterized to develop appropriate charging strategies specifically for VRBs, sizing microgrid systems to meet a given load, or comparing the VRB to other energy storage technologies in different applications. This paper provides a performance characterization analysis in a PV-VRB microgrid system for military installations under different conditions of load and weather. This microgrid system is currently deployed at the Fort Leonard Wood army base in Missouri, USA.