Resource availability effects on cost optimization for battery storage systems

With continued demand for “smart” technologies, implementation of hardware such as batteries and renewable energy sources (i.e. solar panels) has become a huge economic undertaking. In order to better utilize these resources and thus maximize the lifetime of the elements, control schemes looking to both maximize the economic/financial gains while also preventing over usage have become even more important. Past work from the authors examined best case scenarios and financial gains possible as a result. Continuing from a software perspective, less favorable situations are considered and what that means for the cost savings for the consumer in addition to the utilization of the equipment. Studies in this paper focus on varying the availability of solar or battery power to the system. These sets can be broken into the following three main categories: no renewable energy input, no battery/storage input, and variable input of either storage and/or renewables. While mixing these conditions, it will be possible to examine optimizing the sizing of these resources within the overall system. Work discussed here will eventually be applied within the alternative source lab setup within Drexel's Center for Electric Power Engineering (CEPE).