Techno-economic performance of battery energy storage system in an energy sharing community

Abstract

Battery energy storage system (BESS) is an expected solution for the local surplus renewable energy. Due to the high initial investment, the profitability of the BESS program remains a concern at present. Therefore, in this paper, we want to seek a new frame to introduce the BESS which is share the batteries in a community. And we presented a new method to calculate the techno-economic performance of the BESS in a community. We mainly focus on analysing and determining the capacity and the operation of the BESS. First, the potential of energy sharing was explored based on historical monitoring data in a Japanese smart community. Second, the size and number of the BESS were determined by developing a genetic algorithm-based constraint model. Then, the participation of the BESS in grid demand response (DR) was discussed to bring more economic benefits. Finally, the proposed method of battery sharing was compared to the traditional user-owned BESS to verify its feasibility. Case studies show that the shared BESS contribute to a significant reduction in battery capacity at the community level (a 38.8% reduction). Meanwhile, the active incentives of the DR play a critical role in the economic assessment (a 46.4% reduction in payback period). Technical analysis indicates that the shared battery will have the following characteristics: (1). The private shared battery has an advantage over the centralized shared battery due to its significantly lower transmission losses. (2). Prioritizing the deployment of batteries in buildings with much insufficient power is more applicable than in buildings with surplus power. This research provides guidance to promote energy sharing and battery sharing in the future and offers a solution to improve the local energy self-consumption rate.