Quantification of efficiency improvements from integration of battery energy storage systems and renewable energy sources into domestic distribution networks

Due to the increasing use of renewable, non-controllable energy generation systems energy storage systems (ESS) are seen as a necessary part of future power delivery systems. ESS have gained research interest and practical implementation over the past decade and this is expected to continue into the future. This is due to the economic and operational benefits for both network operators and customers, battery energy storage system (BESS) is used as the main focus of this research paper. This paper presents an analytical study of the benefits of deploying distributed BESS in an electrical distribution network (DN). The work explores the optimum location of installing BESS and its impact on the DN performance and possible future investment. This study provides a comparison between bulk energy storage installed at three different locations; medium voltage (MV) side and low voltage (LV) side of the distribution transformer (DT) and distributed energy storage at customers’ feeders. The performance of a typical UK DN is examined under different penetration levels of wind energy generation units and BESS. The results show that the minimum storage size is obtained when BESS is installed next to the DT. However, the power loss is reduced to its minimum when BESS and wind energy are both distributed at load busbars. The study demonstrates that BESS installation has improved the loss of life factor of the distribution transformer

Point estimate method for voltage unbalance evaluation in residential distribution networks with high penetration of small wind turbines

Voltage unbalance (VU) in residential distribution networks (RDNs) is mainly caused by load unbalance in three phases, resulting from network configuration and load-variations. The increasing penetration of distributed generation devices, such as small wind turbines (SWTs), and their uneven distribution over the three phases have introduced difficulties in evaluating possible VU. This paper aims to provide a three-phase probabilistic power flow method, point estimate method to evaluate the VU. This method, considering the randomness of load switching in customers’ homes and time-variation in wind speed, is shown to be capable of providing a global picture of a network’s VU degree so that it can be used for fast evaluation. Applying the 2m + 1 scheme of the proposed method to a generic UK distribution network shows that a balanced SWT penetration over three phases reduces the VU of a RDN. Greater unbalance in SWT penetration results in higher voltage unbalance factor (VUF), and cause VUF in excess of the UK statutory limit of 1.3%