Test Platform for Photovoltaic Systems with Integrated Battery Energy Storage Applications

We present a hybrid simulation and a real-time test platform for developing control systems for photovoltaic (PV) inverters with integrated battery energy storage (BES). The platform consists of a dual-stage single-phase PV inverter system, DC coupled with a full-bridge grid connected inverter, which emulates the charge regulator and battery bank. The real-time control of the two power electronic converters is implemented in a Simulink/dSpace platform, together with the real-time simulation model of the battery pack. The input power can be provided by either a high performance PV emulator or by a physical PV array. The platform enables real-time testing of PV+BES control systems and energy management systems (EMS), for a variety of battery technologies, which can be modelled in detail and emulated by the full-bridge grid connected inverter. Such flexibility is difficult to achieve with real BES systems, due to electrical safety and cost constrains of high power charge regulators and battery packs.