Improving AGC performance of a coal-fueled generators with MW-level BESS

With the increasing penetration of renewables in power system, secondary frequency regulation (SFR) is becoming a big challenge for conventional coal-fueled thermal generator units. To address this issue, a stricter AGC criteria to regulate the generators has been but forward. However, old-fashioned units can hardly meet the requirements and thus are subject to penalty. In this paper, an approach of using BESS for coordinated SFR is proposed to improve the AGC performance of such generators. A demonstration project with a 2 MW BESS has been commissioned at Shijingshan Thermal Power Plant, Beijing. The basic principles, coordinated control strategy, technical performance as well as economic benefits were validated from field measurement. This project, as a pioneer in this domain in China, offers an excellent demonstration of utilizing BESS for improving the performance of SFR under the enviroment of high renewable integration.