Interoperable Energy Storage Control and Communication Framework Development

Behind-the-meter battery energy storage systems (BESS) support grid stability by enhancing flexibility and adding new services to the electrical system. However, integration of BESS requires advanced communication systems, which incurs considerable costs. Furthermore, the diverse communication stan-dards for BESS increase integration complexity, leading to inter-operability issues that hinder seamless deployment. This study aims to create an open source interoperable communication and control framework for BESS using Eclipse VOLTTRON™. This framework provides a protocol-agnostic interface for BESS by mapping the data models of IEC 61850-7-420 to protocols such as SunSpec Modbus, IEEE 1815.2, IEEE 2030.5, and custom protocols according to IEEE 1547 standards. In addition, controls are developed based on existing MESA modes and a two-stage control framework that includes scheduling and real-time control mechanisms to provide grid services. The communication and control framework has been tested on a real system for energy arbitrage, demand charge reduction, and MESA charge/discharge modes, utilizing a 125kW/250kWh BESS and a building with a 150kW peak load.