Control strategies in energy storage system for standalone power systems

Photovoltaic (PV) systems can be one of the possible energy sources to complement the diesel generators in the remote areas, to reduce the reliance on diesel generators. This translates into the reduced fossil fuel consumption, hence bringing an economic benefit to residents in the remote areas. Energy storage system offers a solution which can be used in conjunction with the PV-diesel generator system. The energy storage system (ESS) ensures energy supply security and reliability by storing up excess solar energy for later use in the energy deficit situation. In this study, a PV-Battery-Diesel Generator system is modelled in Matlab Simulink. The main purpose of the study is to obtain the optimal system size and control strategy which yields the minimum cost of energy. Load following (LF) and cycle charging (CC) control strategies are devised for the model developed. Various component sizes for PV and battery are simulated using the LF and CC control strategy. The simulation results show that the Cost of Electricity (COE) reduction using the PV-battery-diesel generator is as high as 10.6%.