Economic optimization of component sizing for residential battery storage systems

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) coupled with rooftop-mounted residential photovoltaic (PV) generation, designated as PV-BESS, draw increasing attention and market penetration as more and more such systems become available. The manifold BESS deployed to date rely on a variety of different battery technologies, show a great variation of battery size, and power electronics dimensioning. However, given today's high investment costs of BESS, a well-matched design and adequate sizing of the storage systems are prerequisites to allow profitability for the end-user. The economic viability of a PV-BESS depends also on the battery operation, storage technology, and aging of the system. In this paper, a general method for comprehensive PV-BESS techno-economic analysis and optimization is presented and applied to the state-of-art PV-BESS to determine its optimal parameters. Using a linear optimization method, a cost-optimal sizing of the battery and power electronics is derived based on solar energy availability and local demand. At the same time, the power flow optimization reveals the best storage operation patterns considering a trade-off between energy purchase, feed-in remuneration, and battery aging. Using up to date technology-specific aging information and the investment cost of battery and inverter systems, three mature battery chemistries are compared; a lead-acid (PbA) system and two lithium-ion systems, one with lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) and another with lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode. The results show that different storage technology and component sizing provide the best economic performances, depending on the scenario of load demand and PV generation.Web of Science107art. no. 83

Lithium-Ion Battery Storage for the Grid—A Review of Stationary Battery Storage System Design Tailored for Applications in Modern Power Grids

Battery energy storage systems have gained increasing interest for serving grid support in various application tasks. In particular, systems based on lithium-ion batteries have evolved rapidly with a wide range of cell technologies and system architectures available on the market. On the application side, different tasks for storage deployment demand distinct properties of the storage system. This review aims to serve as a guideline for best choice of battery technology, system design and operation for lithium-ion based storage systems to match a specific system application. Starting with an overview to lithium-ion battery technologies and their characteristics with respect to performance and aging, the storage system design is analyzed in detail based on an evaluation of real-world projects. Typical storage system applications are grouped and classified with respect to the challenges posed to the battery system. Publicly available modeling tools for technical and economic analysis are presented. A brief analysis of optimization approaches aims to point out challenges and potential solution techniques for system sizing, positioning and dispatch operation. For all areas reviewed herein, expected improvements and possible future developments are highlighted. In order to extract the full potential of stationary battery storage systems and to enable increased profitability of systems, future research should aim to a holistic system level approach combining not only performance tuning on a battery cell level and careful analysis of the application requirements, but also consider a proper selection of storage sub-components as well as an optimized system operation strategy

UV light protection through TiO 2 blocking layers for inverted organic solar cells

Fully organic solar cells(OSCs)based on polymers and fullerenes have attracted remarkable interest during the last decade and high power conversion efficiencies(PCEs)beyond 8% have been realized. However, air stability of these cells remains poor. The conventional geometry of OSCs utilizes strongly oxidizing metal top contacts like Al or Ca. These metals are easily oxidized in air resulting in rapid decrease of PCE if cells are not perfectly encapsulated. Using a thin electron-selective hole-blocking bottom layer like TiO2 enables fabrication of solar cells in a so-called inverted geometry. In this geometry, noble metals like Ag or Au can be used as top contacts, which are less sensitive to ambient oxygen. Thus,air-stability of these inverted solar cells is significantly improved. In this study we investigate inverted polythiophene–methanofullerene solar cells. We find significant influence of the TiO2 layer thickness on light absorption and illumination stability of the solar cells, as well as the trap filling by photoinduced carriers.Even though TiO2 layers as thick as 500nm seem not to be detrimental for charge transport, light intensity losses limit the device performance. In turn, illumination stability is better for thicker TiO2 layers, which can serve as UV filters and protect the photoactive materials from degradation, when compared to thin TiO2 layers. Considering these different effects we state that a thickness of 100nm is the optimization of the TiO2 layer

Optimal Component Sizing for Peak Shaving in Battery Energy Storage System for Industrial Applications

Recent attention to industrial peak shaving applications sparked an increased interest in battery energy storage. Batteries provide a fast and high power capability, making them an ideal solution for this task. This work proposes a general framework for sizing of battery energy storage system (BESS) in peak shaving applications. A cost-optimal sizing of the battery and power electronics is derived using linear programming based on local demand and billing scheme. A case study conducted with real-world industrial profiles shows the applicability of the approach as well as the return on investment dependence on the load profile. At the same time, the power flow optimization reveals the best storage operation patterns considering a trade-off between energy purchase, peak-power tariff, and battery aging. This underlines the need for a general mathematical optimization approach to efficiently tackle the challenge of peak shaving using an energy storage system. The case study also compares the applicability of yearly and monthly billing schemes, where the highest load of the year/month is the base for the price per kW. The results demonstrate that batteries in peak shaving applications can shorten the payback period when used for large industrial loads. They also show the impacts of peak shaving variation on the return of investment and battery aging of the system

Power Flow Distribution Strategy for Improved Power Electronics Energy Efficiency in Battery Storage Systems: Development and Implementation in a Utility-Scale System

Utility-scale battery storage systems typically consist of multiple smaller units contributing to the overall power dispatch of the system. Herein, the power distribution among these units is analyzed and optimized to operate the system with increased energy efficiency. To improve the real-life storage operation, a holistic system model for battery storage systems has been developed that enables a calculation of the energy efficiency. A utility-scale Second-Life battery storage system with a capacity of 3.3 MWh/3 MW is operated and evaluated in this work. The system is in operation for the provision of primary control reserve in combination with intraday trading for controlling the battery state of charge. The simulation model is parameterized with the system data. Results show that losses in power electronics dominate. An operational strategy improving the energy efficiency through an optimized power flow distribution within the storage system is developed. The power flow distribution strategy is based on the reduction of the power electronics losses at no-load/partial-load by minimizing their in-operation time. The simulation derived power flow distribution strategy is implemented in the real-life storage system. Field-test measurements and analysis prove the functionality of the power flow distribution strategy and reveal the reduction of the energy throughput of the units by 7%, as well as a significant reduction of energy losses in the units by 24%. The cost savings for electricity over the system’s lifetime are approximated to 4.4% of its investment cost

Nanostructured organic and hybrid solar cells

This Progress Report highlights recent developments in nanostructured organic and hybrid solar cells. The authors discuss novel approaches to control the fi lm morphology in fully organic solar cells and the design of nanostructured hybrid solar cells. The motivation and recent results concerning fabrication and effects on device physics are emphasized. The aim of this review is not to give a summary of all recent results in organic and hybrid solar cells, but rather to focus on the fabrication, device physics, and light trapping properties of nanostructured organic and hybrid devices

Energy arbitrage optimization with battery storage : 3D-MILP for electro-thermal performance and semi-empirical aging models

Dispatch of battery storage systems for stationary grid applications is a topic of increasing interest: due to the volatility of power system's energy supply relying on variable renewable energy sources, one foresees a rising demand and market potential for both short- and long-term fluctuation smoothing via energy storage. While the potential revenue attainable via arbitrage trading may yet surpass the steadily declining cost of lithium-ion battery storage systems, profitability will be constrained directly by the limited lifetime of the battery system and lowered by dissipation losses of both battery and power electronic components. In this study, we present a novel three-dimensional mixed-integer program formulation allowing to model power, state of charge (SOC), and temperature dependence of battery dynamics simultaneously in a three dimensional space leveraging binary counting and union-jack triangulation. The inclusion of a state-of-the-art electro-thermal degradation model with its dependence on most influential physical parameters to the arbitrage revenue optimization allows to extend the battery lifetime by 2.2 years (or 40%) over a base scenario. By doing a profitability estimation over the battery's lifetime and using 2018 historical intraday market trading prices, we have shown that profitability of the system increases by 11.14% via introducing SOC awareness and another significant 12.64% via introducing thermal sensitivity, resulting in a total 25.19% increase over the base case optimization formulation. Lastly, through the open source publication of the optimization routines described herein, an adaption and development of the code to individual needs is facilitated.Nanyang Technological UniversityPublished versionThis work was supported by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in the framework of the Open Access Publishing Program and the Energy Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N), Singapore, within the joint project agreement International Center for Energy Research (ICER)

Fundamentals of Using Battery Energy Storage Systems to Provide Primary Control Reserves in Germany

The application of stationary battery storage systems to German electrical grids can help with various storage services. This application requires controlling the charge and discharge power of such a system. For example, photovoltaic (PV) home storage, uninterruptible power supply, and storage systems for providing ancillary services such as primary control reserves (PCRs) represent battery applications with positive profitability. Because PCRs are essential for stabilizing grid frequency and maintaining a robust electrical grid, German transmission system operators (TSOs) released strict regulations in August 2015 for providing PCRs with battery storage systems as part of regulating the International Grid Control Cooperation (IGCC) region in Europe. These regulations focused on the permissible state of charge (SoC) of the battery during nominal and extreme conditions. The concomitant increased capacity demand oversizing may result in a significant profitability reduction, which can be attenuated only by using an optimal parameterization of the control algorithm for energy management of the storage systems. In this paper, the sizing optimization is achieved and a recommendation for a control algorithm that includes the appropriate parameters for the requirements in the German market is given. Furthermore, the storage cost is estimated, including battery aging simulations for different aging parameter sets to allow for a realistic profitability calculation