Battery energy storage system integration to the RTE network: from EMT studies to site validation

The bulk power system (BPS) in North America and Europe is undergoing a rapid transformation with the high penetration of inverter-based resources. Renewable sources of energy, such as hydropower, photovoltaics, and wind turbines, have become widely applied solutions to address global challenges such as oil reserves depletion, increasing energy demand and anthropogenic global warming. On the other hand, solar and wind energy are strongly dependent on intermittently available weather resources. To mitigate this uncertainty, battery energy storage systems have been broadly accepted as a reliable mean of compensation, with advantages such as being geographically unrestricted, fast responding, and able to sustain power delivery. Transmission Planners (TP) and Planning Coordinators (PC) are concerned about the lack of accurate modeling data and the need to perform ElectroMagnetic Transient (EMT) studies during the interconnection process and long-term planning horizon. The growth of inverter technologies has pushed conventional planning tools to their limits in many ways, and TPs and PCs are now faced with the need to conduct more detailed studies using EMT models for issues related to inverter-based resource integration issues which is now reflected in their requirements. This article presents the utilization of EMT modeling in the context of integrating BESS in the transmission grid in France. It first explains the list of requirements imposed by the French TSO (Transmission System Operator) RTE regarding the dynamic studies using an EMT model, and second the validation of the model using on-site measurements.