Towards a Battery Characterization Methodology for Performance Evaluation of Micro-Grid Systems

Stand-alone micro-grid (MG) systems have been widely studied and installed especially in remote and rural regions. These systems are composed of renewable energy sources (RES) and storage devices. The main component in these systems is the storage device (e.g., batteries), which is used in order to store extra-produced energy during the day for eventual usage at night. However, battery's characterization according to their operating conditions is required to better identify its parameters and study their performance and behavior within MG systems. This paper introduces an instrumentation platform for battery characterization and modeling using recent sensing/actuating equipment. The platform was first deployed for gathering important battery's parameters, which are then used for building a simplified battery model. This model is then integrated into the MG system for evaluation and validation. Simulation results compared to experimental results show the accuracy of the developed battery model.