Decentralized BESS Control on a Real Low Voltage System with a Large Number of Prosumers

Recent advances in technology and financial costs reduction are allowing an anticipated insertion of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) in the low-voltage (LV) distribution systems, especially in customers owning a photovoltaic (PV) generation system. On the other hand, utilities are also installing medium-size BESSs on LV systems to assist in system operation. This massive integration of medium and small-sized BESS into PV-rich LV systems can create adverse impacts on the circuit operation as each BESS can operate with a different control mode, with different control settings. Therefore, since there are distinct control modes of operation, it is necessary to analyze them and how their parametrization and combined operation affect the grid indices. The parametrization and impacts of multiple BESS operating in an LV system are investigated in this paper through quasi-static time series simulations on a real LV gated community network with high PV penetration. The results reveal the need for properly coordinating the operation of the multiple BESS, otherwise, operating indices of the grid may deteriorate significantly.