Energy storage is and will be a fundamental part of the energy transition which promotes decarbonization and a more sustainable future. It is evident already the number increase of hybrid solar and wind projects accompanied by a storage system. For this reason, it is important to provide them with intelligent solutions that ensure the efficient management of their monitorization.
Basic aspects of storage systems
• The technology of energy storage systems allows the loading and unloading of energy in the network, according to the needs of the operators.
• Generally, storage systems are used in combination with other systems (solar or wind) to store the energy produced and increase the dispatchability of the assets, as well as their revenue.
• The absence of emissions allows the storage system to be located anywhere in a plant, without environmental or air quality impacts.
• They improve grid stability, power quality and the integration of a greater variety of renewable energies in the grid.
• They allow energy dispatch to be deferred according to network and consumption requirements, and when combined with a photovoltaic plant, they can provide greater flexibility.
Solar and storage energy: a winning combination
Battery energy storage systems are increasingly being used to help to integrate solar power into the grid. These systems are capable of absorbing and delivering both real and reactive power with sub-second response times. With these capabilities, battery energy storage systems can mitigate such issues with solar power generation as ramp rate, frequency, and voltage issues.
Besides, integrating an energy storage system with solar PV can make solar power dispatchable, reduce stress on the grid and optimize overall system resources. Also, the system can play an important role in optimally sizing the solar PV systems for off-grid usage.
Our smart solutions
GreenPowerMonitor (GPM), a DNV GL company, offers the integration among smart solutions to monitor and to allow greater efficiency in the configuration and in the incident detection processes.
Such integration of smart solutions has recently been successfully carried out in a 50MW solar plant in Australia. It is a photovoltaic project that has a 25MW / 50MWh storage system capable of supplying over 16,000 homes for two hours of peak demand before recharging.
To monitor the plant, GreenPowerMonitor provided two solutions:
1) GPM SCADA: an in-plant solution which allows to control each plant device individually, execute every type of command, and extract energy production data in real-time. Besides, GPM SCADA solution can monitor and control the project in coordination with the battery storage main contractor and the battery supplier.
2) GPM Horizon: a multiplatform asset manager which provides dashboards and analysis for both solar farms and energy storage systems. The platform contains specific dashboards for storage and solar plants such as plant overview and Scada layout dashboard and it allows the visualization of analytics as well as to control the maximum energy dispatched to the grid.
Our experience
GPM monitoring solutions allow not only greater flexibility for operators and developers, but they also comply with the controls in pre-performance studies required by network operators.
Nowadays, GPM in Australia participates in several projects where energy storage systems are involved. The most common solution so far has been installing battery (Li-Ion), but other technologies and applications are under development as well.
In these cases, GPM has installed its GPM Horizon solution which capable of integrating mixed portfolios that include energy storage systems with KPIs and specific dashboards that allow efficient management of the assets.
Currently, GPM monitors 43 plants for a total of 1.7 GW under management in Australia. In the all APAC region we control 2.4GW over the 37GW we monitor worldwide.
For more information about our smart solution in storage and solar monitoring solutions, contact our Business Developers team: bds@greenpowermonitor.com