Business case in support for reactive power services from distributed energy storage

Abstract

The integration of energy storage (ES) in future low-carbon networks can offer significant opportunities to distribution network operators and other players in the electricity industry. The potential of ES to support distribution network by reducing peak demand, provide security of supply and resilience, manage voltage levels and ultimately defer (and avoid) investment in network reinforcements has been widely reported in the literature. This paper, however, sets out to investigate not only the value of coordinating ES active and reactive power outputs to support network operator activities but also to other stakeholders in future low-carbon networks. The proposed model coordinates active and reactive power outputs from an ES plant at the distribution level. Fundamentally, ES plant operation is optimised to deliver maximum benefits by considering its capability to provide active and reactive power in a coordinated fashion. It is demonstrated that the proposed methodology to determine ES power outputs is fundamental to ensure effective (and robust) delivery of network services at critical ES energy levels. The results have also shown that in a multiple service business model, the coordination of active and reactive power may increase total revenue by ca. 2400 £/month, when compared to an active power only operation mode.