Battery Energy Storage for Frequency Support in the
BCS Electric Power System
M. Ramírez1, R. Castellanos1, J. G. Calderón2
1 2
Transmisión y Distribución, Análisis de Redes
Instituto Nacional de Electricidad y Energías Limpias
Cuernavaca, MO, México
Abstract—A study on the application of a Battery Energy
Storage System (BESS) for frequency support in the isolated
power system of Baja California Sur (BCS) in Mexico is
presented in this paper. For this purpose, user defined models of
inertial and primary frequency control (IPFC) functions are
incorporated into the converter active power control loop of
BESS model. Time domain simulations for a set of test cases are
carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the BESS based IPFC
for system frequency support in under-frequency and over-
frequency conditions. Simulation results show that BESS
equipped with IPFC can effectively improve the point at which
frequency is arrested for the operating scenarios considered in
the BCS electrical network.
Keywords—battery energy storage; inertial control; primary
frequency response; frequency support; BCS power system
I. INTRODUCTION
Large-scale integration of renewable energy sources into
power systems, such as wind and solar farms, is causing
serious concerns to the operators of electricity grids around the
word due to the challenging issues associated with new system
operation requirements. As the proportion of converter-based
wind and solar power increases by the gradual replacement of
conventional generating units, the overall system inertia is
decreased and the frequency regulation capabilities are
reduced, which has a significant impact on the frequency
stability of the network [1]-[3].
Although modern wind and solar farms have the ability to
provide active power control services such as synthetic inertia
and primary frequency response, they must operate in curtailed
mode to deliver the aforementioned services during under the
regime of frequency. However, energy curtailment naturally
impacts the revenue of wind and solar energy projects [4], [5].
With the development of large-scale energy storage
technologies, energy market regulations have been introduced
recently. With the growing penetration of renewable energy
sources into the electricity supply mix, battery energy storage
systems (BESS) are attracting increasing attention in the
modern power systems as a practical key alternative to provide
services related to frequency support [6]-[11]. In [7] the effect
of BESS with droop control, used for primary frequency
support, is examined in a simple low-order frequency response
model representing the power system of South Korea. In [8]
978-1-5386-5844-4/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
O. P. Malik
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The University of Calgary
Calgary, AB, Canada
engineering experiences from several applications of BESS
projects, including grid frequency regulation services, are
presented. In the cases described there, a droop function is also
incorporated in the BESS for frequency control. In [9],
frequency control of BESS consisting of droop control is used
to analyze and compare the frequency support provided by a
large-scale and distributed BESS in a reduced order equivalent
model of a test power system. A BESS with inertial response
and primary frequency regulation services is analyzed in [10]
to improve the grid frequency response of a generic twelve-bus
power system model for wind power integration studies. In
[11], the effect of installing BESS on grid level transmission
system for the support of fast inertial frequency response is
investigated. In that study, a synthetic inertia controller is
added to the active power control loop of the BESS converter
and its performance is evaluated in a one-machine power
system model.
The isolated power system of Baja California Sur (BCS) in
Mexico is a relatively small network that relies heavily on
fossil fuel power plants. It is characterized by high electricity
price and limited resources for the provision of frequency
regulation. The relatively low number of generation facilities
connected to the BCS system and the lack of an
interconnection to the rest of the Mexican Electric Grid, among
other factors, make this system very vulnerable to blackouts
[12]. Furthermore, the imminent integration of intermittent
wind and solar power into the system in the near future will
naturally exacerbate the actual difficulties for the reliable
operation of the system. In order to contribute to the
application of energy storage based alternatives in the BCS
system for the provision of ancillary services such as frequency
support, the effect of a BESS with inertial and primary
frequency control (IPFC) function is presented in this paper.
Time domain simulations of the BCS power system model in
under-frequency and over-frequency conditions are carried out
to evaluate the effectiveness of the BESS based IPFC to
provide frequency support and improve BCS system reliability.
II. INTERCONNECTED ELECTRICAL NETWORK OF BAJA
CALIFORNIA SUR (BCS)
The BCS electrical power system is a relatively small
power network that operates independently from the rest of the
Mexican Electric Grid. The system relies heavily on power
stations based on open cycle gas turbines, steam turbines and
internal combustion engine technology for electrical energy
generation. It comprises an overall generating capacity of
approximately 650 MW, and its transmission system is mainly
constituted of 230 kV and 115 kV lines. Due to the lack of
interconnections and the low number of generation facilities
connected to the system, the BCS network is extremely
vulnerable to frequency regulation problems [12]. Moreover,
the integration of wind and solar power into the system in the
near future is likely to exasperate even more the reliability of
network operation. A schematic diagram representing the BCS Fig. 2. Overall structure of BESS model.
network is given in Fig. 1, where the location of generation
facilities is indicated with white circles.

Fig. 3. WECC generic module REGCA [14].

Fig. 1. BCS electrical power system.

III. FREQUENCY SUPPORT FROM BESS

When equipped with inertial and/or primary frequency
control functions, a BESS is able to provide active power
control services to the power system [6]-[11]. In this sense, by
responding to grid frequency deviations caused by an
imbalance between energy supply and demand, the BESS can
be charged or discharged to contribute to system frequency
support. Besides, its fast-acting capability and emission-free
operation makes it very attractive for frequency regulation
applications.

A. BESS model
In this study, the dynamic behavior of the considered BESS
is modeled according to the WECC Energy Storage System
Model described in [8], [13]. The basic overall structure of the
BESS model is illustrated in Fig. 2, where the REGCA module
is used to represent a Generator and Convgerter (Inverter)
interface with the electrical network, and the REECC module
represents the BESS electrical controller. The REECC module
can be connected to a plant controller to emulate other
functionalities. Components of the REECC and REGCA
modules are illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. A detailed description
of these modules is provided in [13], [14].
Fig. 4. WECC generic module REECC [13].
 The charging and discharging of the BESS affects the generators (totaling about 72 MW of generation) at COR
actual state of charge of the battery (SOC). Therefore, in the power plant.
SOC control loop in Fig. 4, T is the discharge time constant,
SOCini is the initial SOC, SOCmax and SOCmin are respectively With the perturbations above occurring at 1 s, and K1 and
the maximum and minimum allowable values of SOC. K2 in Fig. 5 each set to 60.0, power system performance for the
considered test cases is shown in Figs. 6 through 13. Transient
Considering the overall model structure of a BESS in Fig. frequency response of representative system buses and BESS
2, a user-defined model was developed in TSAT [15], using with inertial and primary frequency control (IPFC) and no
WECC generic models [8], [13]-[14], to represent the energy IPFC (No IPFC) is included in these figures for comparison
storage system used in this study. For illustrative purposes, a purposes.
30 MVA BESS unit, with an energy rating of 20 MWh for 40
minutes, is considered to be installed at bus OLA in Fig. 1. As can be observed from Figs. 6, 10 and 12, the frequency
Assuming that BESS is required to operate in a state of charge nadir and the steady-state frequency response after the
between 20 and 80%, the unit can actually deliver 12.0 MWh perturbation is visibly improved with the action of the IPFC
for 40 minutes. from BESS for the under-frequency test cases under
consideration. On the other hand, for the over-frequency event
B. Control strategy for inertial and primary frequency illustrated in Fig. 8, it is clear that BESS based IPFC can also
response contribute to reducing the frequency deviation during dynamic
and steady-state conditions.
Inertial response influences the rate of change of frequency
and refers to the immediate response of a power system to
frequency deviations caused for example by the loss of a large
generator or load. On the other hand, primary frequency
response is the action of governor controls to return system
frequency to steady state after system generation and load
imbalances. In this work, to enable the participation of BESS in
inertial and primary frequency response, the control strategy
illustrated in Fig. 5 is added to the active power control loop of
the converter, where f represents the measured grid frequency,
Δf refers to the computed frequency deviation, K1 is the gain of
the droop control, K2 represents the gain of the synthetic inertia
control, PREF refers to the reference power and PORD is the
active power command.

Fig. 6. Test case 1: Frequency response.

Fig. 5. Generic frequency support scheme for BESS.

IV. SIMULATION STUDIES AND RESULTS

For illustrative purposes, the following test cases are
considered in this work to simulate grid frequency disturbances
and analyze the impact and contribution of BESS to frequency
support in the BCS system:
1) Trip out of one generator providing 34 MW at PUP
power plant.
2) Sudden load disconnection of approximately 49 MW at
bus CAD.
3) Trip out of two generators (totaling about 72 MW of
generation) at COR power plant. Fig. 7. Test case 1: BEES power output.
4) Substitution of 56 MW of conventional generation by
large-scale PV generation at GAO, and trip out of two
Fig. 8. Test case 2: Frequency response. Fig. 11. Test case 3: BEES power output.

Fig. 9. Test case 2: BEES power output. Fig. 12. Test case 4: Frequency response.

Fig. 10. Test case 3: Frequency response. Fig. 13. Test case 4: BEES power output.
 By looking at Fig. 10, the decline in frequency without the
contribution of IPFC from BESS will lead to the triggering of
under-frequency load shedding (UFLS) relays. However, when
the action of the IPFC is considered, frequency decline is
arrested above the UFLS setting, avoiding the consequent
operation of load shedding schemes. The reduction in system
inertia and primary frequency response due to the replacement
of 56 MW of conventional generation by large-scale PV
generation can be deducted from the frequency response in Fig.
12, as compared to Fig. 10. It is clear that the frequency nadir
in the scenario of Fig. 12 reaches lower values than in Fig. 10.
However, it is also evident that frequency deviation is
effectively arrested in both cases with the operation of BESS
unit with IPFC, since the nadir of frequency remains above the
operation setting of UFLS relays in this study.
As illustrated in Figs. 7, 9, 11 and 13, the BESS is
discharged (injecting active power) or charged (absorbing real
power) in response to under-frequency or over-frequency
events, respectively. The dynamic behavior of the state of
charge of BESS for the test cases considered in this study,
where an initial SOC of 0.5 is assumed for illustrative
purposes, is shown in Fig. 14.
Fig. 14. SOC of BESS.
V. CONCLUSIONS
The effect of BESS equipped with IPFC for frequency
support in the BCS power system is presented in this paper.
Results of simulation studies show that BESS based IPFC can
improve the point at which frequency decline is arrested
following system under-frequency or over-frequency
conditions. According to the studies and results in this work,
the inertial and frequency response from BESS can contribute
to the continuous and reliable power supply in the BCS power
system since possible operation of under-frequency load
shedding schemes and the dropping of customer loads can be
avoided in this way. Despite the BCS system inertia reduction
in the test case related to the replacement of conventional
generation by a large-scale converter based power plant, BESS
based IPFC was able to effectively arrest the frequency nadir
above the UFLS setting for the operating scenario considered
in this study. Therefore, the incorporation of BESS with IPFC
services into the BCS power system represents an effective and
key alternative to contribute to the solution of actual and future
frequency regulation issues of the network.
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