Tesi - Amodio - Polenghi Ridotta

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Scuola di Ingegneria Industriale e dell'Informazione
Corso di laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria Elettrica
ANCILLARY SERVICES PROVIDED BY BESS IN A

SCENARIO CHARACTERIZED BY AN INCREASING
PENETRATION OF UNPREDICTABLE RENEWABLES
Relatore: Prof. Morris BRENNA
Tesi di Laurea di:
Michele AMODIO Matr. 816531
Marco POLENGHI Matr. 816604
Anno Accademico 2014-2015

Dedicata a chi vi pare :-) .
Ringraziamenti
Giunti alla ne di questo percorso universitario, ringraziamo il nostro relatore
Prof. Brenna per il suo supporto e tutti i docenti per i preziosi insegnamenti for-
niti.
Ci teniamo a esprimere la nostra sincera gratitudine verso i nostri familiari che

ci hanno permesso di raggiungere il traguardo tanto atteso.
Un doveroso grazie va anche ai nostri compagni di corso che hanno condiviso con
noi momenti di gioia ma anche di dicoltà.
Inne desideriamo ringraziare anche gli amici di sempre per il sostegno che ci
hanno dato durante questi cinque anni.
Contents
List of gures 14
List of tables 16
Sommario 17
Abstract 19
Introduction 21
1 Overview of European electric networks 23
1.1 The Italian electric network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.1.2 Topologies of Italian power plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.2 The French electric network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.3 The Spanish electric network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1.4 The German electric network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1.5 The Danish electric network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
1.6 Importance of ancillary services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2 Ancillary services 47
2.1 Classication of ancillary services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.2 Frequency and voltage regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.2.1 Frequency regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.2.2 Voltage regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.3 Ancillary services market in European countries . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.4 Distributed generation based on renewables providing ancillary
services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8 CONTENTS
3 Energy storage systems 69

3.1 Importance of energy storage systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.2 Classication of energy storage systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.2.1 Mechanical energy storage systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.2.2 Electrical energy storage systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.2.3 Thermal energy storage systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.2.4 Electrochemical storage systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.3 Comparison between dierent technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4 Future potential scenarios for ESS 79

4.1 Electric connection between Italy and Tunisia . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.2 Pilot projects in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.3 Second life for electric vehicles batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.4 Domestic ESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5 Electrochemical storage systems 89

5.1 Main parameters of a battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.2 Equivalent model of a battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.3 Main types of batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.4 Li-ion batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.4.1 Structure and applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.4.2 Types of Li-ion batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.5 Li-ion capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6 Battery energy storage systems 115

6.1 Structure of a BESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.1.1 BMS and SSC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.1.2 Switch-mode DC/AC converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6.2 Connection rules for BESSs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2.1 Connection schemes of an ESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.2.2 Working conditions of a static generating unit connected
to the grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.2.3 Rules for the provision of ancillary services . . . . . . . . . 130
6.3 Examples of commercialized BESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
CONTENTS 9
7 Modelling of the network and simulations 139

7.1 Software description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7.2 Description of the simulated electric network . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7.3 Simulation analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7.3.1 Simulation of Scenario 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.3.4 Additional considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Conclusions 181
References 185
List of Figures
1.1 Share of generation in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

1.2 Development of the thermal installed capacity . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.3 Development of the hydroelectric installed capacity . . . . . . . . 30
1.4 Development of the installed capacity of renewable sources during
the years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.5 Location of the renewable installed capacity in the Italian regions 33
1.6 Variation of energy produced by renewable sources . . . . . . . . 34
1.7 Location of the energy produced by renewables in the Italian regions 35
1.8 Development of solar plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.9 Development of wind plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.10 Development of plants based on bioenergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.11 Development of geothermal plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.12 Share of generation in France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.13 Share of generation in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
1.14 Share of generation in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1.15 Share of generation in Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.1 Example of electrical network for frequency regulation . . . . . . . 49

2.2 Hierarchical scheme of the voltage regulation in Italy . . . . . . . 55
2.3 Example of transmission system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.4 SVC systems and LC harmonics lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.5 STATCOM structure based on capacitive storage . . . . . . . . . 60
2.6 Mandatory ancillary services in some European countries . . . . . 61
2.7 Overview of ancillary services remuneration in some Europian coun-
tries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.8 IEEE 13 Node Test Feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
12 LIST OF FIGURES
2.9 System electrical frequency in Hz with the increase of the load . . 66

2.10 System electrical frequency in Hz with the decrease of the load . . 66
3.1 PHS system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

3.2 Flywheel system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.3 CAES system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.4 SMES system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.5 Storage mechanism in EDLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.1 Electric connections between Europe and Africa . . . . . . . . . . 80

4.2 Location of the three pilot projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3 Nissan LEAF battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4 Tesla Powerwall technical characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5 Typical connection of a Powerwall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1 Structure of a module and of a battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

5.2 Simplied representation of a battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.3 Algebraic models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.4 Dynamic model of a battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.5 Working principle of Li-ion battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.6 Ragone chart of dierent energy storage technologies including
LIC, Li-ion batteries and EDLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.7 Structure of a LIC cell compared to Li-ion battery and EDLC . . 111
5.8 Parameters of ULTIMO cell models produced by JM Energy com-
pany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.1 Illustration of BESS structure composed by many power blocks . 117

6.2 Explanation of the power reversibility in switch-mode DC/AC con-
verters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.3 Electrical scheme of a three phase inverter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.4 Illustration of the sinusoidal PWM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6.5 Square wave modulation waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.6 Voltage of one phase of a balanced load on the AC side . . . . . . 125
6.7 Electrical connection scheme of an active user with a storage system127
6.8 Capability curve of a BESS in MV network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
LIST OF FIGURES 13
6.9 Capability curve of BESS in LV network with inverter power higher

than 6 kW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.10 Regulation of active power for a storage system . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.11 Regulation of reactive power in function of the voltage . . . . . . 132
6.12 Behaviour of the inverter in case of a voltage dip in MV network . 133
6.13 Structure of a modular ABB BESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
7.1 Single line diagram of the IEEE 30 bus network . . . . . . . . . . 141

7.2 Load proles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.3 Percentage of renewables generation prole . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.4 Generation proles - Scenario 1 - July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.5 Generation proles - Scenario 1 - December 26 . . . . . . . . . . . 150
7.6 Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 2 - July
26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.7 Loading of transmission lines - Scenario 2 - July 26 . . . . . . . . 153
7.8 BESS characteristic - Scenario 2 - July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
7.9 Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 2 -
August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
7.10 Overproduction - Scenario 2 - August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
7.11 BESSs characteristics - Scenario 2 - August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . 157
7.12 Generation proles of conventional power plants with Gen_1 turned
o - Scenario 2 - August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
December 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7.14 Generation proles of conventional power plants - modied Sce-
nario 2 - December 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
7.15 Overproduction - modied Scenario 2 - December 26 . . . . . . . 161
7.16 BESSs characteristics - modied Scenario 2 - December 26 . . . . 162
7.17 Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 3 - July
26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7.18 Underproduction - Scenario 3 - July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
7.19 Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants - Scenario 3
- July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
7.20 Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants with BESSs
- Scenario 3 - July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14 LIST OF FIGURES
7.21 BESSs characteristics - Scenario 3 - July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

January 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.23 Underproduction - Scenario 3 - January 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.25 Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants - Scenario 3
- August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.26 Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants with BESSs
- Scenario 3 - August 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
7.27 BESSs characteristics A - Scenario 3 - August 15 . . . . . . . . . 173
7.28 BESSs characteristics B - Scenario 3 - August 15 . . . . . . . . . 174
7.29 Generation proles of wind and conventional plants - Scenario 3 -
December 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.30 Generation proles of wind and conventional plants with a BESS
- Scenario 3 - December 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.31 BESS characteristics - Scenario 3 - December 26 . . . . . . . . . . 177
List of Tables
1.1 Energy exchanges with neighbouring countries . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.1 Specications of the GS Yuasa Energy Storage Battery Module

LIM50E-7G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.2 Specications of the GS Yuasa 1-MW Class Energy Storage System 105
5.3 Specications of Saft Energy Storage Li-Ion Cells . . . . . . . . . 106
5.4 Specications of the A123 System Energy Storage Li-Ion Cell AMP
20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.5 Specications of the Toshiba 20-Ah Class LTO/NCM Cell . . . . 108
5.6 Specications of the Toshiba Battery for Utility Grid Energy Stor-
age Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.7 Specications of the Altairnano LTO-Type Single Cells for Sta-
tionary Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.8 Specications of the Toshiba Battery for Utility Grid Energy Stor-
age Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.1 Dependence between the installed power of an active user and the
voltage level of the connection point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2 Specication of BESSs produced by ABB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.3 Specication of BESS produced by Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.4 Specication of BESSs produced by Siemens . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
7.1 Conventional generators data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

7.2 Loads bus data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.3 Lines data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
7.4 Transformers bus data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
7.5 Data of renewable generators - Scenario 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
16 LIST OF TABLES
7.6 Lower and upper reserves distribution - Scenario 2 . . . . . . . . . 151

7.7 Data of renewable generators - Scenario 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.8 Lower and upper reserves distribution - Scenario 3 . . . . . . . . . 164
Sommario
Per rispettare i traguardi imposti dai governi riguardo la penetrazione di fonti

rinnovabili nei sistemi elettrici, molte nazioni europee hanno programmato la
sostituzione di impianti termoelettrici con unità di produzione che utilizzano fonti
alternative, come ad esempio generatori eolici e fotovoltaici.
Se da un lato la presenza di questi impianti è positiva per quanto riguarda
l'impatto ambientale, dall'altro potrebbe provocare problemi tecnici e logistici
alle reti elettriche. Siccome la produzione da fonti rinnovabili potrebbe essere in-
controllabile e imprevedibile, si potrebbero vericare squilibri tra la generazione
e il carico e alcuni degli impianti termoelettrici tradizionali potrebbero presentare
un funzionamento non accettabile. Inoltre la presenza di generazione distributita
sui lati di media e bassa tensione potrebbe portare ad un'inversione di potenza
dalla rete di distribuzione a quella di trasmissione, causando sovratensioni e in-
terventi intempestivi delle protezioni.
I servizi ancillari, come per esempio la regolazione di frequenza e di tensione,
sono necessari per supportare l'integrazione delle rinnovabili nei sistemi elettrici
in modo da garantirne un funzionamento adabile. Una soluzione per fornire
questi servizi è rappresentata dalla combinazione delle rinnovabili con sistemi di
accumulo così da poter ridurre l'aleatorietà delle sorgenti e controllare la potenza
generata in funzione delle necessità. In particolare i sistemi di accumulo elet-
trochimici (BESS), di cui ci si aspetta una futura crescita grazie alla loro ver-
satilità e alle buone prestazioni, sono più adatti di altre tecnologie in termini di
posizionamento, risposta e essibilità della capacità.
Il ruolo dei BESS è analizzato simulando tre scenari caratterizzati da una
penetrazione di fonti rinnovabili molto diversa. I risultati confermano che gli ac-
cumuli elettrochimici, a dierenza di una situazione passata contraddistinta da
un basso contributo da impianti eolici e fotovoltaici, risultano essere importanti
18 Sommario
quando viene considerata una penetrazione di energie alternative nella stessa

percentuale di quella italiana nel 2013. Si sono ottenuti risultati positivi anche
simulando un'ipotetica situazione futura in cui la totale potenza installata è cos-
tituita principalmente da impianti basati su fonti rinnovabili.
Parole chiave: sistemi di accumulo, batterie, servizi ancillari, fonti rinnovabili

Abstract
Several European countries have programmed to reduce traditional thermal sys-

tems by substituting them with production units based on renewables sources,
such as solar and wind, so that targets imposed by the governments for the pen-
etration of green energies can be achieved.
If on the one hand it is a positive aspect from the environmental point of
view, on the other hand it could create logistical and technical problems to the
electric network. First of all because power generated by renewable plants could
be not controllable and foreseeable, energy unbalances and dispatching problems
for conventional units could occur. Moreover the presence of distributed gener-
ation on low and medium voltage sides could lead to a power reversal from the
distribution to the transmission networks, causing overvoltages and unwanted
trips of protections.
Ancillary services, such as frequency and voltage regulation, are necessary
to support renewable energy integration in order to make the system reliable.
A method to provide these services can be the match between plants based on
renewable sources and storage systems, so that the eect of the unpredictable
behaviour can be reduced controlling the output power in function of the neces-
sities. In particular Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), whose installations
are expected to increase thanks to their versatility and good performances, oer
the exibility in capacity, location and response required to satisfy a wider range
of functions than many other types of storage.
The role of BESSs is analysed simulating three scenarios characterized by a
dierent penetration of renewable sources. Simulations results prove that BESSs,
dierently from a past situation characterized by very low installations of wind
and solar power plants, turn out to be important when the percentage of re-
newables installed power similar to that of Italian network in 2013 is considered.
20 Abstract
Positive results are also obtained simulating a hypothetical future situation in

which the total installed power is mainly constituted by plants based on unpre-
dictable sources.
Key words: storage systems, batteries, ancillary services, renewable sources

Introduction
The purpose of the thesis is to study the role and the importance of electrochemi-
cal storage systems in electric networks characterized by a signicant penetration
of unpredictable renewable sources. The work is organized in an initial part
that takes into account the arguments treated in the literature and in a nal
part in which the results of simulations performed with the software Plexosr are
illustrated.
In chapter 1 an overview of the electric networks of some European coun-
tries in terms of energy production and installed power is given, emphasising the
contribution and the problems of power plants based on unpredictable renewable
sources.
Chapter 2 deals with the description of the main ancillary services, paying
specic attention to how frequency and voltage regulations are performed in the
Italian electric network. Moreover a short illustration of the ancillary services
market in some European countries is explained, highlighting the compulsory
and the optional services. In addition, the role and the problems of unpredictable
renewable plants in the provision of these services are studied.
In chapter 3 the role of energy storage systems in electric networks is under-
lined, paying attention to the importance that they can have in the provision
of ancillary services. Moreover a classication of the most important storage
technologies with their positive and negative aspects is shown.
Possible future scenarios in which storage systems are exploited for the im-
provement of the network stability are listed in chapter 4. This section initially
deals with large-scale applications, such as new intercontinental electrical con-
nections and pilot projects in Italy, and then it also shows new small-scale de-
velopments, such as domestic electrochemical storages and the use of exhausted
batteries of electric vehicles for the network stabilization.
22 Introduction
Chapter 5 deals with electrochemical storage systems. A detailed description

of the working principle, of the main parameters and of the electric model is per-
formed. Dierent types of rechargeable batteries are illustrated, highlighting and
comparing drawbacks and advantages of each technology. A particular attention
to Li-ion batteries and to Li-ion capacitors is given.
In chapter 6 the structure of a BESS is studied, explaining in particular the
operation of electronic converters and of control systems. Furthermore the con-
nection and working rules for these systems are analysed, following the Italian
standards CEI 0-16 and CEI 0-21. The impositions related to the provision of
ancillary services for electrochemical storage systems are also explained. In addi-
tion, examples of BESSs produced by some big companies and their applications
are described.
Chapter 7 deals with the simulation of the IEEE-30 bus test system in dierent
scenarios. A short description of the used software precedes the modelling of the
electric network which is exploited for the implementation of the simulations.
For each scenario, that is characterized by a dierent penetration of renewable
sources, the obtained results are shown, highlighting the importance that BESSs
can have.
Chapter 1
Overview of European electric

networks
In this chapter the characteristics of the electric networks of some countries in

Europe, as the demand and the production of electric energy, and the classica-
tion of the power plants installed will be analysed according to the ocial data
provided by the national Transmission System Operator (TSO). In this way the
positive and negative aspects of each electric system can be underlined, empha-
sizing their ability to provide ancillary services and to support the integration of
new plants based on renewable sources.
1.1 The Italian electric network

1.1.1 Introduction
Data refer to the year 2013 and they are provided by Terna [1], which is the
Italian TSO.
The energy demand, similarly to that registered in 2003, was 318475 GWh
with a decrease of 3% compared to the previous year. This trend follows the
reduction of 1.9% already registered in 2012.
It is necessary to distinguish:
• gross electricity production. It is the sum of the energy measured at the

Italian generators terminals;
24 Overview of European electric networks
Table 1.1: Energy exchanges with neighbouring countries
Imported energy [GWh] Exported energy [GWh]

France 12536.0 857.5
Switzerland 23341.5 1094.7
Austria 1506.2 20.1
Slovenia 5316.5 132.5
Greece 1637.7 95.4
Total 44337.9 2200.2
• net electricity production. It is the dierence between gross electricity pro-

duction and the energy absorbed by auxiliary services and power plant
transformers;
• nal energy consumption. It is the dierence between net electricity pro-

duction and the pumping consumption.
The gross and the net electricity production were respectively 289803 GWh and
278832 GWh, while the nal energy consumption was 276337 GWh (-3.1% com-
pared to 2012). It is possible to observe that 86.8% of the total electricity con-
sumption has been covered by the national production.
In order to satisfy the demand, 44337 GWh (-2.2% in comparison with 2012)
were imported from some European neighbouring countries: France, Switzerland,
Austria, Slovenia and Greece. Moreover a small amount of energy (2200 GWh)
was also exported from Italy as shown in table 1.1.
In 2013 total losses were 6.7% of total energy demand with a value of 21187
GWh, showing an increasing trend compared to the previous year.
It is useful to give a preview of the national energy production, separately
analysing the dierent types of plants and showing the relevant increase of re-
newable energy.
A growth of 24.7% led hydroelectric to reach its historic record with 54672
GWh of gross production. In this way it contributed to a development of renew-
able sources (for instance hydro, solar, geothermal, bioenergies) with an impact
in gross consumption of 33.9%. Driven by incentives established for renewable
sources, solar and wind gross energy production reached respectively 21589 GWh
(+14.5%) and 14897 GWh (+11.1%). A huge contribution was also given by
bioenergies and geothermal with an increased production of 36.9% and 1.2%.
1.1 The Italian electric network 25
Figure 1.1: Share of generation in Italy
Thermal energy represents at the moment, as in the past, the biggest contri-
bution in the Italian electric system, covering 65.8% of the net production. It is
in counter-trend compared to the renewable sources analysed here above showing
a decrease of 11.5%.
Fig. 1.1 represents the share of gross electricity production in Italy. As already
mentioned, it is possible to observe that the most important contribution comes
from fossil fuels that are non-renewable sources, while the remaining part is given
by renewables. In particular hydroelectric power plants are strongly exploited,
combined with wind and solar systems that are more and more increasing in the
last few years.
In the past also nuclear plants actively contributed, but since 1987 they were
replaced by other types of sources.
The total installed power increased lightly (+0.4%) with a net generating
power of 124750 MW. Thermal power plants were partially replaced by renew-
able sources: there was a reduction of 2053 MW in thermal and an increase
in photovoltaic (+2001 MW), hydroelectric (+129 MW) and wind plants (+440
MW).
The peak of power was recorded at 12 a.m. on July 26, 2013, reaching 53942
MW; lightly lower than the previous year when the maximum was identied on
July 10, at 12 a.m.
1.1.2 Topologies of Italian power plants
Travelling through Italy, it's possible to observe that the landscape and the cli-
mate present a lot of variations depending on the position in which one is situated.
The country can be simply divided in three big macro areas:
• continental, which is delimited by the Alps and by the imaginary line that
connects Rimini to La Spezia. It represents the northern area of the country
and it constitutes a connection between Italy and the rest of the continent;
• peninsular, which extends in the Mediterranean Sea towards north west -

south east;
• insular, which is characterized by two big islands (Sardinia and Sicily) and
some smaller ones.
Italy shows a prevalence of hills (41%), mainly distributed in the central and in
the southern part of the country. Also a big part of mountainous areas are present
(35.2%) with the Alps in the north and the Apennines along all the peninsular
territory. Plain covers the smallest area (23.2%) and it is distributed mainly in
the north, where the biggest area is the Po Valley, but also in the south.
The territory is characterized by an area of 324000 km2 and it presents a large
vertical extension. For this reason it is clear that climate, solar radiation, wind
and water resources are strongly variable in the country. Moreover lakes and
rivers are mostly present in the northern region because the rainfall is relatively
high and there is a big presence of glaciers in the Alps.
The study of the geographical structure of Italy will be useful to understand
the applied choices for the installation of the dierent power plants in the terri-
tory.
Thermoelectric power plants

A traditional thermal power unit consists of a steam generator, a thermal prime
mover, an electrical generator, thermal-cycle equipment, main and auxiliary ser-
vices. The steam generator generally works with fossil fuels as natural gas, coal
or oil and derivatives but can also work with radioactive materials. It can be
classied [2] in four dierent technologies:
• thermonuclear power plant. It uses a nuclear reactor to generate steam that

it is exploited to produce electric energy through a turbine-generator group.
This system is characterized by high installation costs but low working costs
and the disadvantage is linked to the storage of the radioactive drosses;
• traditional thermoelectric power plant. It is also called Rankine cycle and it

is based on the production of steam through the combustion of fossil fuels.
It is characterized by lower eciency and higher fuel costs compared to
thermonuclear plants;
• combined cycle power plant. It is constituted by a gas turbine and a wa-

ter/steam Rankine cycle that uses exhaust gasses of the rst to generate
steam with a heat recovery steam generator and to produce electric energy
with a steam turbine and a generator unit. This system is characterized
by higher eciency compared to the traditional system but also by higher
installation costs;
• turbogas power plant. It is constituted by a compressor, a burner and a

turbine. Air is previously compressed, then it passes through the burner
where it is heated and later expanded in the gas turbine. It is characterized
by high working costs and relatively low installation costs.
Thermoelectric power plants were the rst solution applied to produce electricity
and nowadays they are the mostly used. Because renewable sources are dicultly
foreseeable, the combined cycle and the traditional power plants constitute the
basis of the generation of electricity thanks to the relatively high eciency at
nominal power and to the high starting times, whereas turbogas is commonly
used to cover peaks for a limited number of hours during the year because of the
high working costs and of the relatively low starting time.
In Italy the most exploited fuel is the natural gas (37.9%), followed by coal
(14.9%) and oil (7.2%). Since 1963 thermonuclear systems gave a little contri-
bution to the electric demand and in 1987 they were totally replaced by other
sources and technologies.
As shown in g. 1.2, power plants based on fuels strongly increased during
years reaching an installed gross capacity in 20131 of 79274 MW with 4071 units
1 The
maximum capacity of a power plant or of a group of thermal power plants is the maxi-
mum power which could be produced continuously throughout a prolonged period of operation
Figure 1.2: Development of the thermal installed capacity
that can be divided in producer (3434 units) and self producer2 (637 units).
Between 2012 and 2013 a reduction (-2.6%) of the installed capacity was
registered, substituting the polluting and expensive traditional power plants with
renewable sources like solar and wind.
In the northern part of Italy, the producer's power plants are 2557 with an
installed gross maximum capacity of 34557 MW; whereas in the central and in
the southern areas there are respectively 506 power plants with a power of 14138
MW and 371 power plants with a power of 26209 MW. It is clear that the highest
production is concentrated in the northern and in the southern part of Italy.
Power plants can also be classied according to the possibility to work with
dierent fuels. Most of them work with only one type of combustible that is
mainly natural gas (1854 sections with a power of 34237.6 MW).
2A self producer is a producer that consumes 70% or more of its own energy
Hydroelectric power plants

A hydro plant is a complex of hydraulic works, machinery, equipment, buildings
and services for the conversion of hydraulic energy into electric energy. It is
possible to make a classication [3] depending on the quantity of water available
and on the possibility to store it:
• run-o river plants without storage. They use water as it comes when
it is available and there is no possibility to store it. For this reason their
generation capacity depends on the rate of ow of water and as consequence,
it is possible that some water is wasted during rainy seasons with a low
electricity demand;
• pondage plants. These plants are similar to the previous ones but it is
possible to store water during lean periods and use it during peaks of energy
demand. This type of plant is comparatively more useful and its generating
capacity is not based on available rate of ow of water. The lling period
of these plants, that is the time necessary to provide the reservoir with a
volume of water equivalent to its useful capacity, is less than 400 hours and
more than 2 hours;
• reservoir plants. They are those with a reservoir classied as seasonal regu-
lation, or better with a lling period of 400 hours or more. Generally, water
is stored behind a dam and it is available for the plant. This type of plant
can be used eciently throughout the year and its capacity can be used ei-
ther as a base load plant or as a peak load plant. Most of the hydroelectric
plants are of this type. Pumped-storage systems are a particular type of
reservoir plants and will be treated later.
Analysing some historical data, it is possible to observe that the production
through hydro plants is one of the oldest in Italy, being present since 1887. In
that year for a total gross electricity production of 3.5 GWh, 0.2 GWh were
provided exploiting water as a source. So unlike other types of renewable sources,
which are recording an increase in the last few years, hydroelectric plants have
always contributed to the national production. Obviously the quantity of energy
produced depends on the availability of water, so it is not possible to give a precise
trend during the past few years for the data that refers to the hydroelectric energy
production.
Figure 1.3: Development of the hydroelectric installed capacity
The number of hydro plants installed in Italy on December 31, 2013 was
3258. Only 310 of these units had a power higher than 10 MW with a total
installed gross capacity of 19262 MW. All the plants with a smaller capacity
can be considered as small hydro-power (SHP) and they are classied by United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in:
• mini hydro, with a power between 100 kW and 1 MW;
• micro hydro, with a power between 5 kW and 100 kW;
• pico hydro, with a power lower than 5 kW.
SHP represented the majority of installations (2947) with an installed gross ca-
pacity of 3121 MW. Moreover mini hydro has doubled between 2008 and 2013
and it is expected to increase further.
As it can be seen in g. 1.3 the maximum gross capacity is increased from
1963 to 2013 from around 13000 MW to 22383 MW. The Northern Italy, with
a maximum gross capacity of 16287 MW and an average annual gross energy
capability of 44319 GWh, represents the part of the Italian territory in which
hydro plants are more productive.
Renewable sources
Renewables play an important role in the national electricity system. There are
dierent kinds of renewable sources [4] that can be exploited to produce electric
energy:
• photovoltaic. It consists in the direct conversion of light into electricity

through the use of a solar panel. Some materials exhibit a property known
as photoelectric eect, that causes them to absorb photons of light and
release electrons. When this free electrons are captured, a DC electric
current is created and it needs to be converted in AC current through an
inverter. For this type of plant there is the possibility to be connected to
the electric network or to work independently;
• wind. Wind turbine consists of a propeller connected around a rotor that

converts the wind force into torque that can be used to produce electric
energy with a generator. Since the wind speed is not constant, it is necessary
to use adjustable blades and to connect the generator to the grid through
an electronic converter, which allows the rated frequency to be maintained;
• geothermal. It consists in the exploitation of thermal energy, in the form of

hot water and steam from the Earth, that comes mainly from the radioactive
decay of some materials (such as uranium, thorium and potassium);
• bioenergy. The organic waste of vegetable or animal can be treated to obtain

liquid, solid or gaseous combustible in order to produce heat and electric
energy through a process of combustion. It is considered a renewable source
because the carbon dioxide formed during the energy conversion is the same
one that it is absorbed during the natural growth of the resource. In reality
it can't be considered completely renewable because a small amount of
pollution is produced with the transportation and the treatment of the
materials.
Hydroelectric is also a renewable source but it has been already analysed

because in the Italian network it is considered instrumental since the 19th century.
It is necessary to underline that the energy generated by water previously pumped
to the higher reservoir can not be considered renewable. For this reason on 22383
Figure 1.4: Development of the installed capacity of renewable sources during

the years
MW of gross installed capacity, only 18366 MW were considered as renewables

in 2013.
The number of renewable installations throughout the country continues to
grow, reaching in 2013 around 600000 installed units, driven especially by the
increase of the photovoltaic plants. In 2013 plants powered by renewable sources
[5] reached 40.2% of the total power installed in Italy. The gross ecient capacity
of renewable plants installed in Italy at the end of 2013 was approximately 50000
MW, increased by almost 2200 MW compared to 2012.
In g 1.4 it's possible to observe the growth of the installed power that reached
49786 MW in 2013. This increasing trend mainly depends on solar and wind
energy, even if in the last few years this occurred at a lower rate due to the
incentive reduction, while hydroelectric contribution can be considered constant.
As shown in g. 1.5 Lombardy, with 16%, was the region with the highest
concentration of installed capacity among all Italian regions at the end of 2013.
Tuscany, thanks to geothermal, was the region with greater power installed in
Central Italy. As the southern Italy is concerned, Puglia was the region which
recorded the highest percentage increase.
Figure 1.5: Location of the renewable installed capacity in the Italian regions
Figure 1.6: Variation of energy produced by renewable sources
As depicted in g. 1.6, in 2013 the gross production from renewable registered
a record of 112008 GWh, with an increase of 61018 GWh compared to 2000, year
in which energy production was 52774 GWh.
This sources contributed with 38.6% to the gross energy production and with
31.3% to the gross domestic electricity consumption 3 . This evolution was mainly
linked to the photovoltaic, wind energy and bioenergy with an increase respec-
tively of 35.4% (+21571 GWh), 23.5% (+14334 GWh) and 25.5% (+15586 GWh).
The contribution given by the geothermal source remained more or less the same
whereas the hydroelectric production showed an increase of 14.1% (+8574 GWh).
From the geographical point of view, the regional distribution of renewable
energy production is shown in g. 1.7.
In 2013 Lombardy was the region with the largest Italian production from
renewable sources, representing 15% of the total energy produced. It was followed
by Trentino-Alto Adige and Piedmont with a contribution respectively of 10.5%
and 9.9%. It means that the Northern Italy was the most productive area of the
country, but also The Southern Italy and islands produced an important quantity
3 Grossdomestic energy production represents the sum of gross electricity production and
net electricity imports. It is dened as net of pumping if the electricity produced by pumping
in hydro plants is not included
Figure 1.7: Location of the energy produced by renewables in the Italian regions
Figure 1.8: Development of solar plants
of electricity, contributing with 31.2% to the total production.

As the solar power plants are concerned, 591029 PV systems were installed in
Italy at the end of 2013 for a total power of 18053 MW. Most of them, approxi-
mately 58%, had a power between 3 kW and 20 kW and about 40% of the installed
capacity referred to sizes between 20 kW and 200 kW. The power of photovoltaic
systems was 36% of the entire renewable generation and contributed with 19% of
the total energy produced by these.
In 2013 98% of the total PV plants were installed exploiting the incentives
given by the government and a lot of them took advantages from the energy
exchanges with the national electric network. Looking at g. 1.8 it is possible to
observe that from 2008 to 2011 the number of power plants increased a lot (more
than twice every year), whereas in 2013 the growth was reduced due to a cut of
the incentives (only +8.2% of power compared to 2012).
The highest concentration of installations was focused in the northern area
(54%), whereas in the central and in the southern part there was an installation
respectively of 17% and 29% of plants. In the same order, the percentages of
installed power was 44%, 18% and 28%. In particular Lombardy was the region
with the highest number of PV plants (84338), followed by Veneto (80110). On
the contrary, Puglia was the region with the highest installed power with 2555
MW, followed by Lombardy with 1991 MW.
Figure 1.9: Development of wind plants
In 2013 the production of PV plants in Italy reached a value of 21589 GWh,

with an increase of 14.4% compared to the previous year. The region that pro-
duced the highest amount of energy was Puglia (17.2%), followed by Emilia Ro-
magna (9.2%) and Lombardy (9%).
1386 wind farms were present on the Italian territory at the end of 2013, for
a total installed power of 8561 MW. It means that aeolian, with a contribution
of 17% on the total installed renewable plants, represented a very important
resource for the country. 74% of these plants (1023) were characterized by a
power lower than 1 MW, whereas 18.5% (256) had a power higher than 10 MW.
All that plants characterized by a power lower than 200 kW that can exploit
the national incentives are classied as mini aeolian. They are expected to in-
crease in the future due to their low environmental impact and to the low payback
time.
As shown in g. 1.9, between 2000 and 2013 a strong development of wind
farms was registered in Italy, passing from 55 (363 MW) to 1386 (8561 MW)
plants. In the last year there was an increase of 441 MW (+5.4%), that can be
attributed fundamentally to plants with a power higher than 10 MW. In spite
of this, the growth in number of installations was given by plants with smaller
power.
Figure 1.10: Development of plants based on bioenergy
It is very important to evaluate the environmental and territorial characteris-

tics of sites, the presence of wind, the topography and the site accessibility before
building wind farms. For these reasons, the Southern regions, with 96.7% of the
total national installed power and with 81.2% of installations, turned out to be
the most productive areas in 2013. In particular Puglia reached the highest power
(2266 MW), followed by Sicily (1750 MW) and Campania (1230 MW). Instead in
the northern and in the central area the greater contribution was given by Emilia
Romagna, Liguria and Tuscany.
The Wind energy production also increased rapidly in thirteen years, passing
from 563 GWh to 14897 GWh and reaching in this way 13% of the entire national
generation. Once again, the record was achieved by the three southern regions
mentioned before, which alone covered 60.2% of the entire national production.
Bioenergies represented an important resource in 2013, contributing with an
installed power of 4033 MW (8% of the entire renewable generation). 2030 plants
out of 2409 had a power lower that 1 MW, while only 68 plants were more powerful
than 10 MW.
As shown in g. 1.10 starting from 2008 the rate of growth was very high,
passing from an installed power of 1555 MW to 4033 MW in 2013. This increas-
Figure 1.11: Development of geothermal plants
ing trend happened thanks to the systems based on biogas, which were realized
exploiting the ministerial incentives.
Most of the installations were in the northern part of Italy (74.6%), with the
primate of Lombardy, while in the central and in the southern area the highest
contribution is respectively given by Lazio and Puglia.
Between 2000 and 2013 the energy production increased rapidly from 1505 to
17090 GWh, with an average rate of growth of 20.6%. Thanks to the increase in
production from solid (+1 TWh) and gaseous (+7.45 TWh) biomasses, bionergy
reached 15% of the entire renewable production in 2013. In terms of generation,
the highest contribution was represented by Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Veneto,
Puglia and Piedmont covering 65% of the total generated energy.
Geothermoelectric gave the lowest contribution to the renewable energy pro-
duction. Between 2010 and 2013 the installed power didn't change considerably,
since in the last year only one extra plant with a power lower than 20 MW was
put on service. Several installations were characterized by a rated power lower
than or equal to 20 MW, representing 56.4% of the entire geothermal.
Considering the trend that characterized this source since 2000 in g. 1.11,
it's possible to state that the only purposeful changes happened in the rst three
years, passing from 627 MW to 707 MW. At the end of 2013, all the 34 plants
Figure 1.12: Share of generation in France
present in Italy were installed in Tuscany, for a total power of 773 MW.
The energy production followed the trend of the installed power, reaching in
the last year 5659 GWh (+1.2% in comparison with 2012) and covering with
5% the total renewable capacity. In spite of the low installed power, geothermal
plants are able to produce a signicant quantity of energy, due to the constant
availability of the natural source.
1.2 The French electric network

RTE, which is the French transmission system operator, provides the technical
data [6] regarding the energy consumption and the installed power in 2014.
National demand fell by 6% due to the extremely mild weather and to the
crisis, reaching the lowest value since 2002 corresponding to 465300 GWh. In
the same year, energy production was 540600 GWh. The peak in consumption,
strongly dependent on the electric heating systems, was 82500 MW on 9 December
2014, as opposed to the record consumption of 102100 MW reached in February
2012.
Nuclear, with an installed power of 63130 MW, held the primate in the na-
tional electric eet (48.9%), without any increase compared to the previous year.
It was followed by hydroelectric systems that reached 25411 MW (19.7%) and
that represented the highest contribution of renewable sources. Thermal plants,
due to dominance of nuclear and hydro, were progressively excluded from pro-
1.3 The Spanish electric network 41
duction (-5% of installed power compared to 2013), reaching at the end of 2014
a value of 24411 MW (18.9% of the entire power). Aeolian and solar represented
increasing sources, growing respectively by 11.8% and 21.2% and generating a
power of 9120 MW and 5292 MW. A smaller contribution was given by biomasses
that contributed with an installed power of 1579 MW (1.2%) with a signicant
increase of 6.2%.
In g. 1.12 it can be observed that the order of relevance in energy production
was the same of installed power, with a prevalence of nuclear (77%), followed by
hydro (12.6%) and by thermal that strongly reduced its production by 39.6%
reaching a contribution in the national demand of 5%. This decrease, combined
with the boost of renewable energies, that produced 20% of the entire demand,
enabled CO2 emissions in the electric energy branch to be further reduced by
40%.
Electricity trades were especially sustained in 2014 (92.4 TWh exported and
27.3 TWh imported) allowing France to remain the leading electricity exporter
in Europe thanks to the exchange with six neighbouring countries among which
Switzerland, Italy and Belgium. This is fundamentally supported by the low
energy cost, guaranteed by nuclear power plants, and by the central position in
the continental area.
1.3 The Spanish electric network

In this section the statistics data [7] regarding the Spanish electricity system dur-
ing 2014 are published, considering both the peninsular and the non-peninsular
part which includes Balearic, Canary and other small islands.
The peninsular demand for electrical energy at the end of the year 2014 was
243486 GWh (-1.2% in comparison with 2013), while the non-peninsular demand
was 14581 GWh (-0.9% compared to 2013). In addition exports and imports
were respectively of 15772 GWh and 12228 GWh. The maximum instantaneous
power recorded in the year occurred at 8:18 p.m. on February 4, when it reached
a value of 39948 MW; while the maximum hourly demand was also recorded on
February 4, (between 8:00 pm and 9:00 p.m.) with 38666 MWh.
As shown in g. 1.13 in the peninsula, nuclear covered 21.9%, wind 20.4%,
coal 16.4%, hydroelectric 15.4% and cogeneration 10.4%. A lower contribution
Figure 1.13: Share of generation in Spain
was represented by combined cycle with 8.5%, solar thermal and bioenergy which
have jointly covered 7% of the demand.
It is possible to observe that renewable energies have continued to maintain

a prominent role in the overall production of energy in the electricity system
covering 42.8% of the total production. In absolute terms, renewable generation
fell by 1% in comparison with the previous year, mainly due to the 6.1% drop in
wind production. Despite this decline, it can be conrmed that wind power was
the technology which made the largest contribution in the months of January,
February and November. As the non-peninsular production is concerned, the
total energy required was mostly covered by rankine and combined cycle plants
with a low contribution of renewable sources like solar and aeolian.
Hydro and wind, which are the most important renewable sources, stabilised
together a production of around 90000 GWh in 2013 and in 2014, after a decrease
in the previous year when the climatic conditions were not favourable.
The installed power capacity in Spain remained virtually unchanged com-

pared to the previous year and closed 2014 at 102259 MW. The largest variation
recorded was that of coal, which reduced its contribution to 11482 MW (-1.4%),
as a result of the closure of one generating unit. Combined cycle represented the
predominant type of plant, with an installed power of 27206 MW, followed by
wind with 23002 MW and by hydro with 17787 MW. The renewable production
didn't register a particular growth compared to the previous years.
1.4 The German electric network 43
Figure 1.14: Share of generation in Germany
1.4 The German electric network

The German electric network is interested by four dierent managing authorities
that separate the country in independent areas. Data [8, 9] refers to 2014 and
take into account the overall national system without distinguishing the dierent
TSOs' networks.
The registered gross electricity consumption was 576300 GWh (-3.8% in com-
parison with 2013) with a peak in power of 84000 MW, reached on December 7
at 5:00pm, because of the high heating systems consumption.
As shown in g. 1.14, lignite and hard coal accounted for about 44% of all
the electricity produced in Germany in 2014, while nuclear power, which is to
be phased out by 2022, produced 16% of the entire energy production. Renew-
ables accounted for just over a quarter of all electricity (25.8%), with the highest
contribution given by wind and biomasses.
In July, Germany had an installed capacity of 192 GW with a renewable
integration of 83 GW and about 44% of this power prevalently given by solar and
aeolian. This is the result of Germany's aggressive policies supporting renewable
energy, particularly through the feed-in taris. Natural gas, hard coal, brown coal
(lignite) also represented a signicant part of the installed power, that is destined
to grow in the next few years to compensate the elimination of not insignicant
nuclear plants. In order to allow the integration of aeolian and solar, which alone
generated in 2014 a peak of power of 34 GW, nuclear power plants had reduced
their base load generation by about 10% while lignite plants by about 30%.
Figure 1.15: Share of generation in Denmark
Germany has signicant interconnection capacity with neighbouring EU mem-

ber states such as Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Lux-
embourg, Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. In 2012, Germany had 21.3 GW
of available interconnection capacity, that was exploited for less than half. Ger-
many was a net energy exporter with 35900 GWh the last year, prevalently with
Netherlands and Austria; while it drew net energy imports mainly from Czech
Republic.
1.5 The Danish electric network

The statistic data [10, 11] used in this section are provided by Energinet, which
is the transmission system operator for electricity and gas in Denmark. In 2014
the energy consumption was 33471 GWh and it has fallen by 1.7% since 2013.
In order to supply this demand, the net energy generated was 30615 GWh while
the net imported electricity from neighbouring countries was 2855 GWh.
As shown in g. 1.15 the most important contributions came from wind tur-
bines and thermal plants based on fossil fuels, producing respectively 13079 GWh
and 13054 GWh. Other technologies, such as hydroelectric, photovoltaic and
bioenergies provided respectively 16 GWh, 597 GWh and 3871 GWh.
2014 was characterized by a historically low level of thermal electricity gener-
ation in Denmark, that followed the previous years production decline, combined
with the increase of wind and photovoltaic. In particular, the generation from
1.6 Importance of ancillary services 45
aeolian increased by 18% from 2013 to 2014, leading to cover 39.1% of Danish
electricity consumption. This was a new record and it can be explained through
the installation of a new oshore wind farm at Anholt, which was put on service
in 2013, but it realized its rst full production in 2014. Moreover, wind power
generation is expected to increase up to 23300 GWh in 2024.
As regards installed power in Denmark, in 2014 the capacity of wind tur-
bines and photovoltaic cells increased by 76 MW and 49 MW respectively, for
a total power of 5500 MW. In comparison, in the same year, the capacity of
thermal plants fell by 11 MW, registering a total installed power of 9553 MW.
Wind turbines and solar cells capacity is expected to increase up to 6900 MW
in 2020, while installed power of thermal plants is expected to decrease up to
approximately 5700 MW.
As already mentioned, it's useful to underline the fact that the Danish network
is connected to Norway, Sweden and Germany, and there is interchange (import
and export) of electricity across the borders every hour of the year.
1.6 Importance of ancillary services

Considering the previous sections, it is possible to state that most of the coun-
tries analysed before present an important share of renewables that contribute
signicantly to the total energy production. These sources keep on increasing
and they are expected to grow more and more in the future, indeed targets such
as 20% of renewable energy by year 2020 and 30% by year 2030 are not un-
common [12]. This aim is supported by the fact that in Europe, most of the
countries currently utilize feed-in taris that either set annually xed prices for
generated electricity according to the type of renewable generation technology,
or adds technology-specic bonuses.
If on the one hand it is a positive aspect from the environmental point of view,
on the other hand it can create logistical and technical problems to the electric
network.
First of all power generated by renewable sources could be not controllable.
This may cause for example production of energy during low request periods with
the consequent necessity to turn o the power plants as combined cycles, that
are designated to work continuously.
Furthermore some renewable sources can be unpredictable because their per-

formances strongly depend on weather conditions. Intermittent sources can sud-
denly vary their output power or cease to supply the grid causing an energy
imbalance between demand and production, with the consequent variation of the
network parameters from the rated values. For instance, big power deviations
were evidenced in Denmark in January 2005 and in Northern Germany in De-
cember 2004 with a decreased capacity respectively of 83% in 6 hours and 58%
within 10 hours. These situations were caused by disconnections of large portions
of wind farms due to strong wind storms.
Conventionally [13], the power ow in electrical grids is unidirectional: current
ows from large power generation units over the transmission and distribution
grid to the end-consumer causing a voltage drop. With distributed generation,
the power ow patterns are altered and they can become bidirectional. If on the
one hand it implies a reduction of the net load in lines and of losses, on the other
hand it can lead to overvoltages in nodes far from the substation and to undesired
trips of protection circuit breakers.
Ancillary services, such as frequency and voltage regulation, are necessary to
support renewable energy integration in order to keep the generation and the
load demand in balance and to make the system reliable.
Chapter 2
Ancillary services
Ancillary services are some operational reserved services procured by the TSO
[14] needed to support the transmission of power, to maintain reliable operation
and to ensure the required level of power quality and safety for the electrical
networks.
2.1 Classication of ancillary services

A set of ancillary services that the TSO can provide to the electric network are:
• Frequency control (FC). One of the main problems that occur in the power
system when there is an imbalance in supply and demand is to maintain the
network frequency between imposed limits, by regulating the active power
output. Large frequency deviations caused by the excess of generation can
lead to disconnections of all generators or to relays trip with the consequent
load shedding. Drop in frequency and imbalance conditions can also be
caused by the increase in load demand. The control frequency system is
divided into primary, secondary and tertiary parts which can be controlled
directly through automatic generation controllers or manually by TSO's
operators;
• Voltage control (VC). Due to variations of generation and demand, a con-

trol service is needed in order to maintain the bus voltage at a certain level,
maximizing in this way the active power that can be transferred (increasing
or decreasing the reactive power consumption). The industrial tools useful
48 Ancillary services
to full this need are reactive power compensators based on static con-
verters, capacitor banks or synchronous generators with excitation control.
Another way to control voltage in the network buses is the use of on-load
tap changer transformers;
• Reserve services. They allow to obtain the frequency control through the
management of the generator available power. The upper reserve is dened
as the dierence between the maximum and the instantaneous power of a
production unit, while the lower reserve is the dierence between the instan-
taneous and the minimum power of a generator. These services are classied
in spinning reserves (SP), non-spinning reserves (NSP) and standing or sup-
plementary reserves (ST). Spinning reserves are generally provided by ther-
mal power plants that work in part-load operation and they are constituted
by generating units on-line and synchronized to the grid. Non-spinning re-
serves dier from the previous one only in terms of lack of requirement of
being on-line and synchronized to the grid. Standing reserves, which can be
considered as backup for the spinning one, are an o-line service performed
by gas turbines and pumped hydro storage that in some special cases can
be brought on-line to the grid quickly to meet additional contingencies. SP
and NSP can start rapidly and be fully available within 10 minutes, while
ST can be accessible in 30-60 minutes. The cost of spinning reserves is more
than half (almost 52%) of overall operational cost of reserve services, while
supplementary reserves are less expensive because they don't require auto-
matic generation control and they are not necessarily maintained on-line.
These services may also be provided by controllable loads or electrochemical
storage systems;
• Black start capability (BS). This service is the capability of a generating

unit to start up without external power supply when large blackouts take
place in the power system;
• Remote automatic generation control (RG). This is the capability to regu-

late the power system frequency through a centralized control far from the
network;
• Grid loss compensation (GL). It is a service dedicated to the compensation

of transmission losses, that constitute 2% or 3% of the total average losses,
2.2 Frequency and voltage regulation 49
Figure 2.1: Example of electrical network for frequency regulation
between the sources and the loads. Generators are used to compensate
active power losses;
• Emergency control actions (EC). This ancillary service deals with mainte-
nance and use of special equipments such as dynamic braking resistors or
power system stabilizers to maintain a secure transmission network.
2.2 Frequency and voltage regulation

Among ancillary services, voltage and frequency regulation are the most impor-
tant in order to maintain the stability of the grid. As conventional generators are
concerned, these two services present dierent characteristic between them and
they must be studied separately.
The rst dierence [15] regards the time constants: voltage regulation is char-
acterized by a very fast response, in the order of hundreds of milliseconds, while
frequency regulation shows a slower behaviour, due to the high thermal and me-
chanical inertia of the groups.
Another dierence is linked to the injection or absorption of active and reac-
tive power in order to control frequency and voltage of the network. In g. 2.1
a transmission line, in which shunt parameters and longitudinal resistance are
neglected, connects together a source and a load. In this condition the active and
reactive power which is transferred along the line is:
VE
P = sinδ (2.1)
x
VE V2
Q= cosδ − (2.2)
x x
where x is the longitudinal reactance [Ω] and δ is the load angle [rad] between
the voltages V and E [V].
If δ is considered small (so that cosδ ' 1 and sinδ ' δ ) and ∆V = E − V , the
equations 2.1 and 2.2 become:
VE
P ' δ (2.3)
x
V
Q ' ∆V (2.4)
x
It is possible to observe that:
• P ∝ δ . In order to control the frequency, which is strictly related to the

load angle, the active power ows along the line must be changed;
• Q ∝ ∆V . The voltage variation and its regulation are related to the reactive
power ows along the electric grid.
In the following, how frequency and voltage regulation are performed will be
illustrated, paying special attention to the Italian situation.
2.2.1 Frequency regulation
A generating group [16] is composed by a prime mover driven by various energy

sources (including steam, gas or water), which produces a mechanical power
(Pm ) and creates a mechanical torque (Tm ), and by a generator that delivers an
electrical power (Pe ) and creates an opposite electrical torque (Te ).
The dynamic behaviour of the system is described by the swing equation:
d2 δ
J = Tm − Te (2.5)
dt2
where J is the total moment of inertia of the rotor masses [kg m2 ] and d2 δ
dt2
repre-
sents the rotor acceleration [rad/s2 ].
In balance conditions, the electrical frequency f [Hz] of the power system is
the same across the entire areas and all the generators rotors rotate at the same
angular speed ω [rad/sec]. In this situation, since Tm = Te , the rotor does not
change its speed and the frequency remains constant.
Contrary, an unbalance can be caused by a change of the electromagnetic or
mechanical torque due to the following reasons:
• unpredictable variation of the load;
• reconguration of the electric network;
• variation of the prime mover power;
• faults and consequent opening of the protections.
This causes a transient in which, in the rst instants, a variation of the kinetic
energy stored in the rotating masses occurs. The result is a variation of the
frequency from the nominal value. If Tm > Te the rotor accelerates causing an
increase of frequency, while if Tm < Te the rotor decelerates causing a decrease
of frequency.
As shown in eq. 2.6, the higher is the inertia of the system, the higher is the
transient duration:
df ∆P
= f0 (2.6)
dt 2H
where df /dt is the rate of change of frequency [Hz/s], ∆P is the power change in
per unit, H is the system inertia [s] and f0 is the initial frequency [Hz].
Primary frequency regulation

In the time instants after frequency variation [17], speed regulators of the pro-
duction units modify automatically the injected mechanical power, restoring in
this way the energy balance. This practice is called primary frequency regulation
and it is compulsory for all the production units with an ecient power not lower
than 10 MW.
All participants must guarantee a reserve of active power higher than or equal
to 1.5% of their ecient power. Therefore, in normal operating conditions each
generator can work within the following limits:
Pmin = Ptm + 1.5%Pef f
Pmax = Pma − 1.5%Pef f
where Ptm is the technical minimum power, Pef f is the ecient power and Pma
is the maximum available power.
Each production unit must dispense a share ∆Pe of the available primary
reserve taking into account the frequency variation ∆f and the degree of statism1
σp imposed in the regulator in function of the following equation:
∆f Pef f
∆Pe = − 100 (2.7)
50 σp
All speed regulators must respect the following characteristics:
• measurement precision better than 0.02%;
• insensitivity not higher than ±10 mHz;
• ability to operate with a statism between 2% and 8%, and with a frequency
between 47.5 Hz and 51.5 Hz;
• possibility to avoid their operation from 0 mHz to 500 mHz (deadband);
• ability to work up to 46 Hz for a limited time.
Moreover the generating units must be able to provide at least half of the required
power and the total power respectively within 15 seconds and 30 seconds. They
must be also able to provide the regulating contribution for at least 15 consecutive
minutes.
Secondary frequency regulation

At the re-establishment of the energy balance, obtained thanks to the primary
frequency regulation, the power system operates in a new steady state condition
in which frequency diers from the rated value. For this reason a secondary fre-
quency regulation, that establishes the nominal value of the frequency, is needed.
The participants must provide a power reserve not lower than:
• the highest between ±10 MW and ±6% of the maximum power for thermal
plants;
• ±15% of the maximum power for hydro plants.

1 Statism:
it is the ratio in percentage between the frequency variation, expressed in p.u. of
the rated frequency, and the variation of the electric power, expressed in p.u. of the ecient
power
Furthermore all units must be able to use the reserve of power for at least two
hours.
Speed regulators of the production units that participate to this practice re-
ceive a signal from an automatic centralized device (network regulator) and they
adjust the generation exploiting their reserve. The regulating signal is used to
cancel the error of frequency and of the programmed power exchange between
control areas.
If the network operates in island mode and the secondary regulation is not
available, the Local Frequency Integral (LFI) function operates in order to re-
establish the nominal value of frequency.
Tertiary frequency regulation

The tertiary frequency regulation, dierently from the others, is executed with
the imposition of the TSO and it is needed to restore the reserves used for the
secondary regulation.
This service is made by generating groups that are already synchronized with
the electric grid (with a margin of power available) or by units that are able to
be connected in parallel with the network in a short time.
Dierently to primary and secondary regulation, this one is manually con-
trolled by TSO, that decides which units participate and how much power they
provide.
It is possible to distinguish the reserve of power in:
• ready reserve : it must be available within 15 minutes and it must operate

for at least two hours;
• cold reserve : it must be available within 60 minutes from the request and
it must operate for at least eight hours.
2.2.2 Voltage regulation
Sudden and slow voltage variations are typical in the nodes of electric systems
[18]. The former are generally voltage dips (caused by commutations, switch-
ing operations and short circuits) or icker (caused by start of motors and arc
furnaces), while the latter are related to the change of load diagrams.
It is important to maintain voltages around their nominal values in buses, so

that the behaviour of electrical devices is ensured and transmission lines can carry
their nominal power. This shows the necessity to perform the voltage regulation.
Studying the electric grid already used for frequency regulation (g. 2.1),
where the load is considered inductive and the line resistance is neglected, it is
possible to express the voltage drop as:
√
∆V = 3(xI sin ϕ) (2.8)
where line to line voltages are considered, I is the current [A] absorbed by the
load and ϕ is the power factor angle [rad].
Eq. 2.8 can be written in p.u.:
. ∆V xI sin ϕ E xQ xQ A . .
∆V= = = 2 = 2 =xQ (2.9)
E E E E E A
where Q is the reactive power absorbed [Var] and E is the line to line voltage at
the load terminals [V].
It is clear that the voltage drop depends on the reactive power ow in the
buses. Moreover eq. 2.9 can also be expressed in function of the short circuit
power Asc of the bus [VA]:
. xQ Q
∆V= 2
= (2.10)
E Asc
At constant Q, it is possible to state that voltage drop decreases with the increase
of short circuit power of the bus, that is when the network connection is strong.
Manual grid voltage control [19], largely used by system operators up to some
years ago, typically involves the control of the reactive power produced by each
generating unit in function of a forecast. This conventional approach is now
considered quite unsatisfactory because:
• the real situation is dierent from the predicted one;
• the dispatching commands are based on written requirements or requested

by the system operator. For this reason the control action is not ecient;
• there isn't possibility to achieve simultaneous and optimised control actions;
• it is not possible to have a direct control of the support given by power

plants.
Figure 2.2: Hierarchical scheme of the voltage regulation in Italy
It is clear that an automatic voltage control system able to monitor in a better

way and in real-time the network is needed. In Europe a hierarchical system based
on the subdivision of the network in control areas and an automatic coordination
of reactive power sources have been introduced. In particular primary (PVR),
secondary (SVR) and tertiary (TVR) voltage regulation can be distinguished.
The main reasons supporting coordinated automatic real-time voltage regu-
lation can therefore be summarized as follows:
• the quality of power system operation is improved, in terms of reduced
variation around the dened voltages prole across the overall transmission
network;
• the security of power system operation is enhanced, in terms of reactive

power reserves kept available for emergency conditions;
• the transfer capability of power system is improved, with reduced voltage

instability and collapse risks;
• the eciency of power system operation is increased, in terms of minimiza-

tion of active losses;
• the controllability of the voltage ancillary service is simplied.

In g. 2.2, a schematic diagram of the Italian hierarchical control system is
shown in order to explain how the dierent regulators interact between them.
Primary voltage regulation
This practice consists in a local and independent control of voltage at the genera-
tor terminals or at the HV bars and it is mandatory for all the production units.
There is an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) which, together with the gen-
erator excitation, controls the reactive power ows and consequently the voltage.
Generally the set point of the voltage reference is manually selected, following the
imposition of GRTN (Gestore Rete Trasmissione Nazionale). In some cases the
reference value takes into account some correction signals as the compound, that
increases the voltage reference proportionally to the reactive power generated,
and as the one produced by the Power System Stabilizer (PSS), that damp the
electromechanical oscillations of the rotor during the transients. Furthermore the
voltage reference must be able to vary its value from 80% to 110% in comparison
with the nominal one.
Regulators also act as a safety system for the generators, allowing them to
work within the thermal and mechanical limits.
Secondary voltage regulation
The design starting point requires a proper subdivision of the overall grid into
control areas, in which pilot nodes are dened. These pilot buses have high
short circuit power and they are chosen in order to impose voltages on the other
electrically close nodes. It is also required to have low electrical coupling between
pilot nodes so that dynamic interaction between secondary control loops can be
avoided.
Two or more neighbouring areas which are controlled by the same Regional
Voltage Regulator (RVR) compose an electrical region. This device allows to keep
the desired voltage at the pilot nodes providing each area with a specic reactive
power signal, which is in part sent to the electric stations and in part to the
power plants, in function of their power capability. When a power plant receives
the imposed signal, a voltage and reactive power regulator (REPORT) organises
the reactive power produced by each generating units acting on the set-points of
their AVR. For instance if the reference is 25% , each unit will provide a reactive
power equal to 25% of its maximum.
Figure 2.3: Example of transmission system
Tertiary voltage regulation

The basic idea of this practice comes from the need to increase the system op-
erating security and eciency through centralized coordination of the regional
controllers using the National Voltage Regulator (NVR). The system operates in
real-time on the basis of the actual pilot node voltages and reactive power levels
of the area, compared with the optimal power ow predicted the day ahead.
Methods for voltage control

There are dierent methods to control the reactive power in generation and load
buses in order to regulate the voltage [20].
An important and economical technique, that is mostly used in primary
voltage regulation, consists in the excitation control of synchronous generators
through their regulators. Without controlling the excitation, the presence of the
transformer (XT ), generator (Xd ) and line (XL ) reactances (as shown in g. 2.3)
causes a reduction of voltage at the load terminals (VU ) proportionally to the
reactive power absorbed. This imply the necessity to have a local reactive power
compensation. Instead by controlling the excitation, it is possible to maintain
constant the voltage at the load terminals, increasing the one at generation buses
(VG ) proportionally to the reactive power absorbed with a regulating signal called
compound. In this way it is not necessary to have a local compensation of the
load.
In a transmission system it is possible to control the active and the reactive
power transferred along electrical lines by injecting electromotive forces (e.m.f.)
in series to them. Because the network elements can be represented with series
reactances, the insertion of this e.m.f. in phase with the line voltage causes the
ow of an additional current that is displaced by 90◦ compared to the voltage
source. In this way it is possible to change only the reactive power ow and as a
consequence to control the voltage. This method is generally used to optimize the
losses and the voltage prole by managing the power ows in the national network
system or to control the power exchanges between neighbouring countries.
It is possible to compensate the reactive power locally at the load buses when
their voltage need to be controlled. Nowadays systems based on energy storage,
as bank capacitors and inductors, substituted synchronous condenser, which in
the past represented the most used solution. These can be coupled with static
converters in order to improve their performances, so that it is possible to distin-
guish:
• Thyristor Switched Capacitors (TSC). There is a shunt connection between

the grid and capacitors through a step-down transformer and a coupling
inductance. In a three phase conguration the branches of the capacitor
present wye connection so that compensation of unbalanced system can
be performed. Thyristors are connected in series with the capacitors of
each branch and they allow to control the instant in which capacitors are
turned on and o, reducing inrush currents and increasing the lifetime of the
components. Because this method only allow a step control of the reactive
power that can be injected in the electric network, in order to obtain a
variable regulation it is necessary to install more independent capacitor
banks.
• Thyristor Controlled Reactors (TCR). There is a shunt connection between

the grid and inductors through a step-down transformer and a coupling
inductance. In a three phase conguration the branches of inductors are
wye connected in order to enclose the zero sequence components in the
triangle and to work with unbalanced systems. Thyristors, in series with
inductors, allows to control continuously the reactive power absorbed from
the grid changing the phase control angle of the static switches between
90◦ and 180◦ . There are not inrush currents but lters, that reduce the
harmonic components produced, must be installed.
These two systems, that are part of the family of Static Var Compensators (SVC),
can also work together when it is necessary to absorb and produce reactive power
with continuity. Generally more TSC than TCR are installed in order to have
an excess of capacitive reactive power and to control the power absorbed by the
Figure 2.4: SVC systems and LC harmonics lter
inductor. It is also possible to substitute TSC with LC lters (shown in g. 2.4)
that reduce the harmonic components and that work as capacitors at the grid
frequency.
Innovative techniques, called static compensators (STATCOM), consist in the
use of devices with minimum energy storage elements interfaced to the grid with
static converters. They can be classied in:
• device seen as "voltage generator". As shown in g. 2.5 it consists in an

AC/DC converter, based on IGBT, that is connected to the grid through
a coupling reactance or a transformer. On the DC side there is a small
capacitor which imposes the voltage. If the voltage on the AC side of the
inverter is higher than the network voltage, reactive power is produced (it
works as a capacitor); on contrary there is absorption of reactive power (it
works as an inductor). The AC side voltage of the inverter can be controlled
with two dierent techniques: pulse width modulation or square wave mod-
ulation associated with a DC/DC converter that changes the magnitude of
the voltage on the capacitor;
• device seen as "current generator". The structure is similar to the scheme

represented in g. 2.5, with the only dierence that on the DC side there
is a small inductor that imposes the shape of the current and that has not
Figure 2.5: STATCOM structure based on capacitive storage
a storage function. With IGBTs, acting on their turn on and turn o, it is
possible to displace of 90◦ the waveform of the rst harmonic of the AC side
current and as a consequence the reactive power absorption and injection.
Actually, due to active losses related to the converter, the commutation
can not be exactly 90◦ , but a lower value must be chosen. IGBT can be
substituted by thyristors and in this way, acting on their turn on delay,
it's only possible to control the reactive power absorption. This device can
be seen from the grid as a system of three inductors or capacitors that
can be regulated with continuity by acting on commutating angles. The
drawbacks are that it is not able to compensate unbalanced loads and it
produces harmonics currents.
The combination of SVC and STATCOM constitutes the Flexible AC Trans-

mission Systems (FACTS).
On Load Tap Changer (OLTC) transformers can be used as a method to keep
the voltage in a bus at the desired level without controlling reactive power ows.
It consists in the possibility to vary the turn ratio between primary and secondary
sides through an on load commutating system that, thanks to transition inductors
or resistors which limit the creation of arcs, avoid the necessity to interrupt the
power supply. The disadvantage is that it is possible to keep constant the voltage
at a load bus, acting exclusively on the turn ratio, only if the OLTC is connected
to a strong node.
2.3 Ancillary services market in European countries 61
Figure 2.6: Mandatory ancillary services in some European countries
2.3 Ancillary services market in European coun-

tries
The design of ancillary services market largely diers from country to country
due to the dierent levels of development of the electricity markets as well as the
nature of the power system [14].
There are two approaches that can be used to ensure that the system operator
obtains the required amount of ancillary services [21]. The rst one is based
on compulsory provision of them and in this case a generator, in order to be
connected to the power system, is compelled to respect some requirements. For
instance all units must be able to operate from 0.85 lead to 0.9 lag so that they
contribute to voltage control and reactive power support. All these conditions
are imposed by TSO and they must be adjusted from the seller. This method
is good to ensure system security and quality of supply but it is not a good
economic policy because not all generating units need to be controlled and not
all of them are able to provide some services (for instance nuclear power plants
can't participate to frequency regulation).
Fig. 2.6 shows the compulsory ancillary services in some European countries.
The frequency and voltage control, which are the most important ancillary ser-
Figure 2.7: Overview of ancillary services remuneration in some Europian coun-

tries
vices, are considered as mandatory in all European countries except FC in Finland

and Ireland, and VC in Netherlands. All ancillary services in Czech Republic are
not compulsory.
The second approach is based on a transparent and competitive energy mar-
ket, with prices high enough to inuence investment decisions, encouraging the
construction of plants which are able to provide certain ancillary services. Be-
tween buyer and seller some contracts which can have dierent lifetime are cre-
ated. In long-term contracts the amount of services are less likely to change over
the time and participants are more interested to invest in less important services,
such as black start capability, emergency control or remote automatic generation
control. Short-term contracts, which are based on immediate demand and supply
market, discourage the sellers to include services that are not fundamental. Thus
the advantages are that it is more economically ecient than compulsory provi-
sion and the system operator buys only the amount of service needed. Instead
disadvantage is that it is more complex and it is not applicable to all types of
services.
Fig. 2.7 shows that because of using mandatory provision approach on fre-
quency control, in some countries as Ireland, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal and
2.3 Ancillary services market in European countries 63
Spain there is no payment; while Nordic countries pay for them based on the ne-
gotiated contracts. It is possible to see that for voltage regulation, in Sweden and
Iceland there is no payment, while in other countries it is paid under negotiated
contracts or taris.
Regarding the Italian electricity system, since 1962 it was managed by a mo-
nopolistic company (ENEL) that controlled generation, transmission and distri-
bution to nal users. Consequently to the EU Directive (96/92/EC), a national
law was issued in March 1999 by the Italian government (Bersani's decree) to
promote the market liberalization. Therefore, also the ancillary services have
undergone a strong remodelling [22].
The Italian electricity market was opened to producers on April 1, 2004 and
it consists in a spot electricity market (MPE) and a forward electricity market
(MTE), which is the place where future electricity contracts with delivery and
withdrawal obligation are traded. MPE is classied into a day-ahead market
(MGP), an intra-day market (MI) and an ancillary services market (MSD) [23].
MGP and MI, which are managed by the Italian market operator (GME),
represent the energy market. The rst one provides a preliminary generation
schedule for each hour of the day after and it is based on the bids of the par-
ticipants, while the second one allows operators to apply changes in the MGP
programs through new oers.
MSD, managed by TSO, is mandatory for all production units and it allows
to stock the resources needed to reach the control and safety of the electric net-
work, as for instance the energy reserves for frequency regulation. To this end,
all generating groups with a power not lower that 10 MW must participate to
the primary frequency regulation, while for the secondary the contribution de-
pends on market rules. MSD is structured in MSD ex-ante, that is the market
place where TSO accepts energy demand bids and energy supply oers, and in a
balancing market (MB).
Up to some years ago, the hourly trend of the energy cost followed the load
trend. With the increase of renewable sources, the energy average cost has been
decreased reaching the lowest value in the central hours of the day. Because sun
and wind are free, the marginal price of energy can be easily imposed at very
low values by these renewable energy producers, forcing the traditional plants to
work with low prots. For instance, on June 16, 2013, between 1 p.m. and 3
p.m. the energy was bought at a price equal to zero also from traditional thermal
plants, resulting in a disadvantage for all the producers.
Another problem caused by the unpredictable behaviour of renewable sources
is that they are not able to participate to the MGP in order to predict their
production and to establish their contribution for the ancillary services in the
MSD. For this reason it could be useful to introduce a new market that reduces
the prediction times.
It is clear that a review of the energy market structure is needed to allow the
integration of renewable sources. A gure which is growing in the last few years
is the energy aggregator, that allows to improve the ability of the Distributed
Generation (DG) to participate in the MGP and MSD. It combines dierent types
of generation in order to supply the services required by the system operators to
its customers and to reduce the instability of the energy price. Furthermore this
gure could improve the performances of renewables in the provision of ancillary
services through the exploitation of storage systems.
2.4 Distributed generation based on renewables

providing ancillary services
As shown in chapter 1, the majority of the analysed countries were characterized
by an increasing contribution from renewable sources to the total energy produc-
tion. For this reason, the penetration of DG based on these sustainable resources
is becoming very signicant.
In modern power systems these renewables should participate with the main
conventional power plants and other equipments in the power system security
and reliability by providing the essential ancillary services [16].
In several cases providing ancillary services from distributed generation rather
than the conventional plants would become more feasible due to its small gen-
eration capacity with the consequent cost reduction. Furthermore the fact that
these sources are usually located close to the loads would lead to a reduction in
transmission losses and costs.
A signicant contribution to frequency regulation could be provided by wind
and solar plants. By using variable speed wind turbines interfaced to the grid
with electronic converters, instead of xed speed induction generators, it would
services 65
Figure 2.8: IEEE 13 Node Test Feeder
be possible to control the active output power so that frequency would be kept at
the rated value. Solar energy based on photovoltaic technology could also provide
these services in the same manner as wind generators. Due to absence of inertia,
these renewable resources interfaced to the grid with a power converter would have
an indirect impact on the frequency regulation, which could be obtained only by
the control of the inverter allowing in this way a faster transient response.
In order to explain this concepts, a simulation [16] is shown to illustrate the
frequency variation in a network with and without renewable sources when the
load demand suddenly increases or decreases by 30%. As shown in g. 2.8, the
test network is a generic IEEE model of distributed generation system with 13
buses. Bus 650 connects the test network, through a two winding transformer,
to an external ac grid that is able to provide 5 MVA as installed capacity. Bus
675, with a total capacity of 0.4 MVA, constitutes a conventional DG unit based
on synchronous generator. The total active and reactive power absorbed by nine
load buses before the variation is respectively 3.47 MW and 2.1 MVar.
In the case of study in which renewable sources are considered, the contribu-
tion of these to the total generation is equal to 3 MW and it comes from buses 611
and 634. An additional load, which equals the power produced by renewables, is
added to the system at bus 680 in order to ensure that the external grid and the
conventional DG supply the same power as in the case without renewable units.
Fig. 2.9 shows the results of the simulation when the load demand is increased
by 30% at time 2 seconds. Without renewables system frequency drops by 4.5
Hz, while in the other case the decrease is only 0.65 Hz. By adding the renewable
(a) without renewable sources. (b) with renewable sources.
Figure 2.9: System electrical frequency in Hz with the increase of the load
(a) without renewable sources. (b) with renewable sources.
Figure 2.10: System electrical frequency in Hz with the decrease of the load
sources the response is improved and the system frequency returns to its normal
operating conditions after the disturbance in shorter time, indeed it only takes
2.5 seconds rather than 26 seconds required in the rst case.
Fig. 2.10 shows the results of the decrease in load demand. Without renew-
ables the frequency reaches 55 Hz, while in the other case it is increased till
around 51 Hz. The time needed to return to normal operating conditions with
non conventional DG units is 3.7 seconds, which is much shorter than 29.9 seconds
required in the other case.
The unpredictability and the uncontrollability of the output power of solar and
wind plants make dicult their use for the provision of ancillary services as shown
in the previous example. In particular an upper and a lower reserve of power for
each renewable generating unit would be necessary to carry out the regulation
of the network frequency. When a frequency drop occurs, a higher power would
services 67
be required and for this reason all renewables should work in normal operating
conditions with a reduced power, with the consequence that green energy could
be lost. On contrary, in case of over-frequency, it would be necessary to reduce the
output power. This condition could be not always feasible for renewables because
they could already work at very low values depending on weather conditions.
These aspects force the power market and the electric network to come up
with new solutions in order to obtain the results shown in the example. A method
is the match between renewable energy and electrochemical storage systems, so
that the eect of the aleatory behaviour can be reduced and the injection of power
into the grid in function of the instantaneous demand can be adjusted. Moreover
batteries could provide the reserve of power in substitution to renewables. In
this way the traditional thermal plants would improve their performances because
they would not be forced to make available an amount of power for reserve service
and they could work near to their rated capacity, reducing costs and emissions.
Chapter 3
Energy storage systems
3.1 Importance of energy storage systems

The need of Energy Storage Systems (ESS) and their utilization in the electrical
grid is becoming more and more important for dierent applications.
First of all they allow to store electric energy at times of low demand or
low generation costs and to procure it to the network when energy request is
high or no other generation is available [24]. In this practice, called time shift,
it is also possible to sell energy previously stored at times of high generation
costs. Traditionally pumped hydroelectric plants were committed to this type of
application, whereas nowadays new storage systems have been introduced due to
the high penetration of solar and wind technologies.
Moreover ESS are able to correct in real time the electricity demand and
production forecast errors, which are strongly increased due to the growth of
unpredictable renewable sources, and they allow to eliminate contingencies on
the electrical grid in a faster way.
Peak shaving, which is another important application, consists in the load
levelling through storage elements so that maximum power at times of high de-
mand is reduced. The consequence is that it is possible to avoid installation of
new expensive power plants.
Above all that, the most interesting applications of the energy storage devices
are related to:
• possibility to provide frequency regulation in a fast way without limitations

on the regulating reserve;
70 Energy storage systems
• capability to be used as units able to start-up autonomously in order to

energise the transmission system in the case of blackout;
• ability to control the voltage at load buses in the electric network and to
guarantee power quality.
Thus it is possible to observe that energy storage systems have a fundamental

role in providing ancillary services for the electric grid.
3.2 Classication of energy storage systems

Function and form are two dierent criteria that can be used to classify energy
storage systems.
In terms of function, they can be divided into those which are intended for
power applications when they can exchange high power for a short time, and
those designed for energy applications when they are able to provide a certain
amount of power for a long time.
Generally electrical energy cannot be stored directly, but it needs to be ac-
cumulated in other forms and then converted back to electricity when needed.
Depending on this, storage technologies can be represented with the following
classication:
• electrical energy storage, as Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC) and

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES);
• mechanical energy storage, as ywheels, Pumped Hydroelectric Storage

(PHS) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES);
• electrochemical energy storage, as batteries;
• thermal energy storage, as low temperature energy storage and high tem-
perature energy storage.
In addition to these technologies other systems that combine dierent forms have
been developed and they are in continuous evolution. An example is represented
by Li-Ion Capacitors (LIC) that are based on both electrical and electrochemical
storages.
3.2 Classication of energy storage systems 71
Figure 3.1: PHS system
3.2.1 Mechanical energy storage systems
PHS
Between all mechanical energy storages, PHS is the most widely implemented
large-scale technique and it normally consists of two reservoirs located at dierent
height, a unit to pump water to the highest elevation and a turbine connected
to a generator. In the discharging phase, potential energy stored in the upper
reservoir is rstly transformed in kinetic energy and then in electrical energy
through a group composed by turbine and generator. When there is an excess of
production of the power plants, water is pumped to the highest elevation and in
this way energy can be stored in a quantity proportional to the height dierence
and to the volume of the reservoir. PHS is a mature technology with large
volume, long storage periods (from days to years), high eciency (from 71% to
85%) and relatively low capital cost per unit of energy. PHS can be generally
applied for energy management, frequency control and provision of reserve but
the drawbacks lie in the scarcity of available sites for two large reservoirs and in
the fact that a high capacity is already installed, with the consequence that it is
dicult to build new plants.
Flywheels
Flywheels store energy in the angular momentum of a spinning mass called rotor.
It consists of a cylindrical mass that rotates at a very high velocity, a containment
Figure 3.2: Flywheel system
system that provides a vacuum environment to minimise aerodynamic losses and

to protect the rotor from external disturbances, a bearing which reduces friction,
a power converter and a control system. During charge, the ywheel is spun up by
a motor, whereas during discharge the same motor acts as a generator producing
electricity from the rotational energy of the device. The total amount of energy
that this system makes available depends on the size and speed of the rotor,
while the power rating depends on the motor-generator. Because ywheels are
characterized by fast responses and high eciencies, they are particularly suitable
to improve the system power quality and to support the network voltage. The
disadvantages are that they require high maintenance and they are not able to
maintain stored energy for a long time.
CAES
CAES is another important mechanical storage system able to produce a signi-
cant power, higher than 100 MW for each unit. It consists of a motor linked to
an air compressor of two or more stages with inter-coolers and after-coolers, a
turbine train composed by high and low pressure stages and a cavity or a con-
tainer to store compressed air. In periods of high electric energy production, air
is compressed and stored in the reservoir system exploiting the compressor group,
while in peak demand periods compressed air is drawn from the storage vessel,
Figure 3.3: CAES system
heated and then expanded through a high pressure turbine, which captures some
of the energy. The air is then mixed with fuel, combusted and expanded in a low
pressure turbine. Both turbines are connected to a generator to produce electric-
ity. Systems based on these techniques has a relatively long storage period, low
capital costs and high eciency. Moreover they are suitable to provide tertiary
frequency regulation, black start and time shift.
3.2.2 Electrical energy storage systems
SMES
SMES stores a large amount of electric energy in a magnetic eld which is created
by the passage of a direct current through an inductor composed by circular coils.
Because superconducting materials are used, current can circulate indenitely
with almost zero losses. To maintain the inductor in its superconducting state
(low temperature), it is immersed in helium kept in a vacuum and insulated
container which can be placed underground. In this way it is also possible to
conne the electrodynamic forces and the electromagnetic eld, which in some
situations could be particularly high. The energy stored in the inductor can be
calculated as W = (1/2)LI 2 , where L is the inductance [H] of the coil and I is
the current [A] passing through it. SMES exhibits a very high energy storage
Figure 3.4: SMES system
eciency (around 97%) and a rapid response in comparison with other energy
storage systems, but only for short periods of time. Other positive aspects are
that the energy output is not strongly dependent on the discharge rate and that
this technology presents a high cycle life. For these reasons SMES are suitable in
solving voltage stability and power quality problems.
EDLC
In a conventional capacitor, energy is stored by removing charge carriers, typi-
cally electrons, from one metal plate and depositing them on another [25, 26].
This charge separation creates a potential between the two plates, which can be
conducted in an external circuit. The total energy stored in this device is given
by W = (1/2)CV 2 , where C is the capacitance [F] and V is the voltage between
the two plates. The expression of the capacitance can be represented as:
A
C= (3.1)
δ
where is the dielectric constant of the medium between plates [F/m], A is the
plate surface [m2 ] and δ is the distance between the two plates [m].
In order to have a higher stored energy it is necessary to increase the value of
the capacitance, acting on or on the ratio between A and δ , or the value of the
voltage.
EDLC, also known as supercapacitor, is an electrochemical capacitor that, in-
creasing the value of the surface and reducing the distance between the plates, has
an unusually high energy density compared to conventional capacitors. In partic-
Figure 3.5: Storage mechanism in EDLC
ular EDLC allows an improvement of about two or three orders of magnitude in

capacitance compared to a dielectric capacitor with the same size. However, it is
not possible to have very high values of energy because of low working voltages.
As shown in g. 3.5, EDLC has a double-layer construction consisting of two
electrodes immersed in an electrolyte and separated by a membrane that ensures
the electrical insulation between them and that allows ions to pass from one side
to the other. Porous active carbon is usually used as electrode material because it
allows to obtain large surfaces, but it can also be replaced by carbon aerogels and
carbon nanotubes. The electrolyte is either organic or aqueous. The rst usually
use acetonitrile and it allows to obtain voltages up to 3 V, while the second uses
either acids or bases and the maximum voltage is limited to 1 V.
Applying a potential between the two terminals, positive and negative charges
move respectively toward negative and positive electrodes thanks to the presence
of the electric eld. In this way the charges are amassed at the interfaces be-
tween the electrodes and the electrolyte, forming the so called double layer which
presents a thin thickness (2-10 Angstrom). Dierently from traditional capaci-
tors, energy is stored in the two double layers and not on the plates surfaces.
EDLC allows to store a smaller amount of energy compared to the others, in
the form of electric eld. This device is suitable for rapid charge/discharge cycles
(good for high power applications), it can work for a long time (more than 15
years), no thermal heat can be released during discharge and energy eciency
is very high (from 85% up to 98%). On the contrary it presents a high rate of
discharge (14% of nominal energy per month) and energy density is much lower
compared to batteries.
3.2.3 Thermal energy storage systems
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can be classied into low and high temperature
systems depending on the operating temperature of the exploited materials that
are placed in insulated containments.
Low temperature TES

Low temperature systems are divided in:
• Aquiferous low-temperature (AL-TES). Water is cooled or iced by a refrig-

erator at times of low demand and it is stored for later use to meet the
cooling needs during the peak time. This technique is suitable for peak
shaving and for industrial cooling loads during the day;
• Cryogenic Energy Storage (CES). During the times of low demand, very
low temperatures in liquid nitrogen or in liquid air are obtained, so that
energy is stored. On contrary at the times of high demands, heat from the
surrounding environment boils the cryogenic liquid that is used to generate
electricity thanks to a heat engine. This system is characterized by a low
eciency (around 40% or 50%) due to the high energy consumption for air
liquefaction.
High temperature TES

High temperature systems are divided in:
• Molten salt storage. It is generally combined with concentrated solar power

systems. Thermal energy produced by solar plants is stored in molten salts
which are placed in dedicated containers. The heat contained in these salts
can be used to produce steam that activates a turbine connected to an
electric generator;
• Phase Change Materials (PCM). A high heat of fusion is typical of this

technique and they are able to store and release a large amount of energy
3.3 Comparison between dierent technologies 77
when they change phase from solid to liquid. They are characterized by
high costs that limit their applicability.
3.2.4 Electrochemical storage systems
This is the oldest method to store electricity and it is based on chemical reactions
and dierent technologies that will be analysed in details later. This technology
can lead to power plants exibility and environmental benets because it allows
the integration of unpredictable renewable sources. It also oers a number of
important operating advantages to the electricity utility with a quick response
to load changes and consequently an improvement of system stability. Batteries
usually have very low standby losses, good energy eciency (between 60% and
95%) and they can be placed everywhere. On the contrary large-scale systems
were non exploited a lot in the past due to high installation costs, low energy
density and short cycle life.
Nowadays dierent technologies have been developed causing a rapid growth
of performances and reducing installation and maintenance costs.
3.3 Comparison between dierent technologies

Depending on dierent applications there are various commercially available stor-
age systems that meet only a part of all the requirements for an ideal ESS. For
instance PHS, CAES, large-scale batteries and TES are suitable for energy man-
agement application, whereas ywheels, batteries and EDLC are more suitable for
power quality and short duration Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems.
CAES, SMES, ywheel, EDLC, TES and some types of batteries as Li-ion
are technically developed and commercially available. The cycle eciencies of
SMES, ywheel, EDLC, PHS, CAES and batteries are high with values above
60%; whereas the cycle life is large for SMES, PHS, CAES, ywheel and EDLC.
Moreover PHS, CAES, some types of batteries and SMES can't be considered
environmentally friendly due to production of toxic remains, strong magnetic
elds and ambient deterioration.
The principal technologies that are able to provide ancillary services are PHS
and CAES for long duration applications such as power reserves, batteries such
as Li-ion or NaS for frequency and voltage regulation with the integration of
renewable sources, and ywheels for short applications.
Chapter 4
Future potential scenarios for ESS
In order to achieve renewable targets imposed by the governments, several Eu-

ropean countries have programmed to phase out nuclear power plants and to
reduce traditional thermal systems by substituting them with sources such as
solar and wind. In addition, northern African countries, such as Tunisia and
Morocco, are registering a large increase of production from renewable sources.
This aspect suggests the possibility that power generated from renewable energy
projects could also be exported to Europe.
Furthermore dierent projects based on ESS are in development in Italy and
they could be very useful to allow the integration of big wind farms and solar
plants in certain areas of the Italian country.
Another possible future scenario could consist in the exploitation of second-
hand electric vehicles batteries or in the use of new domestic storage systems in
order to improve the stability of a network with high penetration of renewables.
4.1 Electric connection between Italy and Tunisia

Because average solar radiation is estimated at 5.3 kWh/m2 day for a potential
capacity of 20000 MW, conditions for solar power in Morocco are excellent [27].
Aeolian is also strong, with wind speeds between 6 m/s and 11 m/s in some areas
of the country and an estimated potential capacity of 25000 MW.
Tunisia is another country which, in common with many other northern
African areas, has signicant wind and solar potential. In particular sun shines
more than 3200 hours per year with an average radiation of 5.0 - 5.5 kWh/m2 day,
80 Future potential scenarios for ESS
Figure 4.1: Electric connections between Europe and Africa
while wind can reach speeds of 7 - 10 m/s.

As already mentioned, these data point out that electrical connections be-
tween Europe and North Africa could be very interesting. Fig. 4.1 shows that an
interconnection between Spain and Morocco already exists, whereas others are
planned for a future development.
In particular the European Commission selected 43 projects in the electricity
and gas eld and two of these regard Italy. The rst one has been already realized
in 2015 and it concerns the submarine electrical connection between Malta and
Sicily. The second one is particularly signicant and it involves the construction
of a submarine cable between Italy and Tunisia.
The intercontinental connection is an important project that reinforces the
role of the Italian electricity system towards North Africa so that Italy can be
considered the hub for the energy exchanges in the Mediterranean area [28]. This
connection also allows to improve the eciency and the performances of the power
system in Sicily and more generally in the southern part of Italy.
Because Tunisia doesn't exhibit an excess of production capacity, this project
could be feasible only if the African country would improve its production. In
particular new installations for a total capacity of 1200 MW should be created,
with the participation both of the Italian and Tunisian market. Moreover this
4.2 Pilot projects in Italy 81
interconnection allows to open new economic opportunities and in particular to

link the Tunisian and the European markets.
A 1000 MW submarine electric cable should be used to connect the two ex-
tremities which are distant 150 km, with a maximum depth below the sea level
lower than 1000 m.
It is evident the necessity to use energy storage systems in order to guarantee
a safety and reliable operation of the Italian and Tunisian electric networks.
4.2 Pilot projects in Italy

With the deliberation 199/11 the Italian authority for the electricity and gas has
promoted the start of the experimentation of electrochemical storage systems on
the transmission and distribution electric networks [29, 30].
These pilot projects must satisfy the following conditions:
• a limited area of the high voltage electric grid characterized by a penetration

of renewable sources must be interested;
• they must reduce the limitations of production from renewables caused

by contingencies during the operation of the meshed transmission electric
network;
• they must be able to control the reactive power ows along electrical lines
through static converters so that the voltage can be regulated;
• in all operating conditions they must provide primary frequency regulation

for at least 15 minutes and with a reserve of ±5% of the ESS rated power;
• the total maximum power must be of 40 MW.
Southern part of Italy, due to the high penetration of power plants based on solar
and wind, is the area that mostly interest these experimentations.
Six projects, for a total installed power of 35 MW, have been approved by
Terna between Puglia, Molise and Campania as shown in g. 4.2. They are
installed in couples on the same node of each line in the following way:
• 2 x 6 MW/40 MWh Campobasso - Benevento 2 - Volturara - Celle San

Vito;
(a) Project in the line Campobasso - Benevento2 - Volturara - Celle San

Vito.
(b) Projects in the lines Benevento2 - Bisaccia380.
Figure 4.2: Location of the three pilot projects

4.2 Pilot projects in Italy 83
• 2 x 6 MW/40 MWh Benevento 2 - Bisaccia 380;
• 6 MW/40 MWh + 4.8 MW/32 MWh Benevento 2 - Bisaccia 380.
Each system, based on NaS technology, is able to provide the maximum power
for seven hours and for this reason these projects can be considered as energy
storage applications.
These are essentially intended to reduce the lack of wind power production,
but they are also able to provide frequency and voltage regulation if required by
the TSO.
Other two projects have been approved in Sicily (Caltanissetta) and Sardinia
(Ottana), with an installed power of 8 MW for each storage plant. In each site two
dierent technologies for power applications are installed in order to analyse and
compare the behaviour in two years of study. In particular Li-ion and ZEBRA
batteries provide respectively 10 MW (7 MWh) and 6 MW (7 MWh).
Moreover, always in Sicily and Sardinia, it is expected to install other 24 MW
in addition to the 16 MW already mentioned.
On the distribution electric network the ESS could be managed by the Dis-
tribution System Operator (DSO) or by active and passive users in order to limit
the power reversal from low to high voltage side and to procure ancillary services.
In the new concept of electric network called "smart grid", the DSO will be re-
sponsible for the behaviour of the DGs on the distribution grid and it will be
obligated to provide services such as frequency and voltage regulation if required
by TSO. In a short-term period, due to the expected increase of the renewable
sources penetration, the probability that this will happen is very high and the
role of energy storage devices such as the electrochemical one could become very
interesting.
In particular an Italian DSO (ENEL) has installed the rst electrochemical
ESS in Molise (Isernia) in order to improve the safety of the network in case of
overload. The technology used is based on Li-ion batteries for a total power and
energy respectively of 0.7 MW and 0.5 MWh. It is planned the installation of
three other storage systems based on the same type of battery on the medium
voltage network in the following primary stations:
• Campi Salentina - Puglia, with 2 MW of power and 1 MWh of energy;
• Chiaravalle - Calabria, with 2 MW of power and 2 MWh of energy;

• Dirillo - Sicilia, with 2 MW of power and 1 MWh of energy.
Finally it is programmed the installation of another system in Emilia Romagna

(Forlí-Cesena) based on Li-ion batteries for a total power and energy respectively
of 1 MW and 1 MWh.
4.3 Second life for electric vehicles batteries

Working as an energy storage system, batteries used for mobility in Electric
Vehicles (EV) could have another purpose in addition to move the car's motor
[31, 32]. Nowadays in the world there are approximately 350000 electric vehicles,
equipped with a battery pack able to store on average 17 kWh, that could be
able to procure potentially more than 6 GWh of storage capability.
These storage systems could be exploited in three dierent ways:
• Vehicle to Home (V2H) : it consists in the connection of the EV to the home

electric network through a power controller unit bypassing the public elec-
tricity grid. In this way it is possible to store energy from own photovoltaic
plant when the domestic consumption is low and to have an emergency
backup useful in case of blackout. Nissan, which is the pioneer in this
application, sold more than 2000 LEAF-to-homer kits1 in Japan;
• Vehicle to Grid (V2G) : it consists in the connection of EVs to the public

electric network in order to allow bi-directional energy exchanges. This
solution can be useful to allow the integration of distributed generation,
as solar and wind, and to procure ancillary services. Actually it is di-
cult to enhance this systems due to unpredictability of the number of cars
connected to the network and to the limited number of public EV charger
stations;
• Used batteries : it consists in the exploitation of second-hand batteries which

present a reduced capacity.
The third option is a smart solution because after ten years an EV battery gener-
ally reduces its capacity to 70 - 80% with the consequence that the driving range
1 LEAF-to-home kit is a power controller unit designed to connect Nissan LEAF to the
domestic network
4.3 Second life for electric vehicles batteries 85
Figure 4.3: Nissan LEAF battery

It has a capacity of 24 kWh and it consists of 48 lithium-ion modules
is signicantly reduced, making necessary to substitute it. An example is given

by Nissan LEAF that is able to cover 120 - 135 km at a 100% charge, whereas
once the battery gets old the range is reduced to 84 - 104 km.
So it is necessary to nd an after-market for these expensive batteries which
are able to provide a signicant storage solution.
Sumitomo Corporation created the start-up "4R Energy Corporation" in partner-
ship with Nissan Motor and ABB in September 2010. The purpose of this joint
venture was to study and develop energy storage systems based on second-hand
electric vehicles batteries.
The company developed in February 2014 the rst project of large-scale power
storage system in the world based on used batteries, with the purpose to measure
for three years the smoothing eect on power uctuations from the Hikari-no-mori
solar farm in Japan. The prototype, which consists of sixteen second-hand EVs
batteries with a capacity of 70% in comparison with the original value, is able to
provide 400 kWh with a power of 600 kW.
Vattenfall, in association with BMW and Bosch, is another company which
is experimenting this new type of business. Within the end of 2015 it will realize
an electrochemical storage system based on Li-Ion used batteries of electric cars
(BMW ActivE and BMW i3) with an installed capacity of 2 MWh and a power
of 2 MW.
The weak point of this application is that batteries used for electric mobility
Figure 4.4: Tesla Powerwall technical characteristics
are assembled to reach a limited insulation voltage (around 400 - 500 V). In
storage applications for electric network this value is too low because batteries
are connected in series in order to reach high power. For this reason it is necessary
to assemble again them changing the connection of the cells and substituting the
cables.
4.4 Domestic ESS

In Italy it is installed a high number of distributed photovoltaic plants which, due
to unpredictability and impossibility to control production, lead to the necessity
to improve ancillary services [33].
Furthermore the energy consumption prole of a self producer could be dier-
ent from the solar radiation and consequently from the photovoltaic production.
In this way the network users would sell his energy during the day, causing an
overproduction and so the necessity to turn o traditional plants, and they would
buy it during the night at a price much higher than the selling one.
Tesla Motors has introduced Powerwallr into the market, a new energy stor-
age system for domestic use that is able to store the energy produced in excess
by the PV plant in order to make it available when required. It is in practice
a rechargeable battery based on Li-ion cells equipped with a thermal control
4.4 Domestic ESS 87
Figure 4.5: Typical connection of a Powerwall
system, a battery management system and a DC-DC converter for power ow
control. Characteristics of the two available sizes are shown in g. 4.4.
A traditional PV system consists of solar cells which are able to produce
electric energy from the beams of light. These are connected through a DC bus
to a smart inverter which is able to control the power given to the electricity
consumption or to the electric network. In this way all the energy which is not
instantaneously exploited by the plant owner is sent to the grid.
In a system equipped with Powerwall (as shown in g. 4.5), on the DC side
the storage system, that is able to maximize the self-consumption, is installed.
It is not a new concept of storage, but it is a smart system because it integrates
all the controls at a competitive price.
Also other companies as Mercedes-Benz started to commercialize storage sys-
tems based on the same cells used for electric car batteries.
Chapter 5
Electrochemical storage systems
Electrochemical ESSs, also known as batteries, are rechargeable systems used

to store energy and to deliver, in the form of electricity, the chemical energy
generated by electrochemical reactions. These reactions take place inside a basic
cell, between two electrodes (anode and cathode) plunged into an electrolyte,
when a load is connected to the cell terminals. The reaction involves the transfer
of electrons from one electrode to the other through an external electric circuit.
[34, 26].
The anode provides electrons to the load and it is oxidised during the reaction,
while the cathode accepts electrons and it is reduced in the reaction process. The
electrolyte provides the medium for transfer of electrons between the anode and
the cathode, which are electrically insulated by a separator.
Because the voltage of a cell is limited to 1 - 2 V, it is generally necessary to
connect in series more cells so that a module is created and higher voltages can be
obtained. As shown in g. 5.1, generally a battery is composed by more modules
Figure 5.1: Structure of a module and of a battery

90 Electrochemical storage systems
Figure 5.2: Simplied representation of a battery
connected in series between them. The parallel connection between modules is

not frequently used because it is not possible to know how the current is shared
between the dierent cells.
As shown in g. 5.2, a battery can be seen as a device with two terminals
that operates with DC current. When the current enters in the positive terminal
energy is stored, whereas when current exits from the same terminal energy is
transferred to the external circuit. Generally the negative and positive terminals
are respectively anode and cathode, even if theoretically the cathode should be
the electrode from which current exits. With these assumptions it is possible
to state that during the battery discharge current exits from the cathode, while
during the charge it exits from the anode.
5.1 Main parameters of a battery

Batteries are generally studied referring to the input or output electric charge.
If it is assumed as positive the current i(t) [A] that exits from the cathode (as
shown in g. 5.2), it is possible to dene the extracted charge Qe [C] in a given
time interval T [h] as:
ZT
Qe = i(t)dt (5.1)
0
Similarly the energy Ee [Wh] exchanged with the external circuit is:
ZT
Ee = u(t)i(t)dt (5.2)
0
where u(t) [V] is the voltage at the terminals of the battery.

Another important parameter is the capacity Cq , expressed in Ampere-hour
(1 Ah = 3600 C), that represents the product between the supplied current and
5.1 Main parameters of a battery 91
the time needed to discharge completely the battery, which is usually of 10 hours.
It can be seen as the maximum charge that can be stored in the device and it is
strongly dependent on the discharging current and on the operating temperature
(the lower is the temperature, the lower is the available capacity; while the higher
is the discharging current, the lower is the capacity).
With Qe and Cq it is possible to dene the State Of Charge (SOC), which
theoretically indicates how much the battery is charged:
RT
i(t)dt
Qe 0
SOC = 1 − =1− (5.3)
Cq Cq
Its complementary is the Depth Of Discharge (DOD).

Experimentally it is possible to observe that the charge (Qdischarge ) extracted
from the battery during the discharging time T 1 is only a part of the charge
(Qcharge ) introduced during the charging time T 2. For this reason a Coulombic
eciency ηq is dened:
TR1
|i(t)| dt
Qdischarge 0
ηq =
= (5.4)
Qdischarge TR2
|i(t)| dt
0
Similarly the energy eciency ηe is dened as:
TR1
|u(t)i(t)| dt
Edischarge 0
ηe =
= (5.5)
Edischarge TR2
|u(t)i(t)| dt
0
Because the voltage during the charge is generally higher than the discharge one,
in the case of constant current it is possible to state that ηe < ηq .
In some applications it is useful to dene the C − rate, which expresses the
value of current that completely charges/discharges the battery in a specied
time. For instance an electrochemical ESS with a capacity of 100 Ah with a
C-rate of 0.25C is able to provide a current of 25 A for a time of 4 hours.
During its life a battery is interested by ageing and it can be considered
exhausted when its capacity reaches a value generally lower than 80% of the
rated capacity. In reality this percentage is not a value imposed but it depends
on the applications.
One of the reasons that cause the ageing is related to the exploitation of
the battery and consequently to the charge/discharge cycles (cycle life), which
is the number of cycles that the battery can withstand before reaching a low
value of capacity. This phenomenon is due to the fact that at the end of the
charge or discharge process the active material on the electrodes doesn't lay
down uniformly and undesired eddy reactions can verify. It is necessary to limit
the discharge process because the higher is the DOD, the higher is the presence of
these reactions. On contrary for some types of batteries, as nickel-metal hydride
and nickel-cadmium, it is necessary to have complete charge/discharge cycles to
avoid the so called memory eect, which can lead to a reduction of the capacity.
Another reason of the ageing is linked to the time passed from the construc-
tion of the battery (shelf life). It is due to the decay of the materials caused
by the passing of time. For instance in lead-acid batteries the electrolyte can
progressively lose water due to the defective impermeability of the case.
A good indicator of the ageing eect of the battery is the State Of Health
(SOH).
When a battery is not used immediately after its complete charge, it progres-
sively loses its stored energy and consequently its available capacity. The eect
of this phenomenon is expressed by the rate of self-discharge and it is due to
the presence of undesired eddy reactions which decrease with the passing of time
and that are strongly dependent on the operating temperature. For instance a
lithium-ion battery has a rate of self-discharge between 2 - 8 % after a month of
inactivity.
Finally it is possible to dene other parameters that are important to underline
advantages and disadvantages of each type of battery and to understand for which
applications they are suitable:
• energy density : it is the quantity of energy that can be extracted from a

battery per unit mass (it is also called specic energy) and it is measured
in kWh/Kg. Sometimes it can be considered as the energy per unit volume
and it is expressed in kWh/m3 ;
• power density : it is the quantity of power that can be extracted from a

5.2 Equivalent model of a battery 93
(a) Basic algebraic model (b) Complex algebraic model
Figure 5.3: Algebraic models
battery per unit mass (it is also called specic power) and it is measured
in kW/Kg. Sometimes it can be considered as the power per unit volume
and it is expressed in kW/m3 ;
• specic cost : it is the cost per unit of power or energy and it is expressed
in e/kW or e/kWh.
5.2 Equivalent model of a battery

Dierent models of electrochemical storage systems have been realized, depending
on the complexity and on the precision that it is needed in the case of study
[35]. Generally they can be distinguished in internal models, used to extensively
analyse the reactions inside the electrochemical cell, and in external models, used
to describe the battery in terms of equivalent electrical circuit.
The rst one is not largely used due to the complexity in dening the param-
eters that describe the chemical behaviour of the battery, whereas the second one
is the most exploited thanks to its simplicity. In this section only the external
models will be analysed, starting from the simplest algebraic one and reaching
the one used to study the dynamic behaviour.
The basic model is represented in g. 5.3a. The battery is schematised as a
time independent voltage source E in series with a constant resistance R, that
takes into account the voltage drops generated in the metallic parts when current
Figure 5.4: Dynamic model of a battery
ows and the resistance of the electrolyte.

The model represented in g. 5.3b is more accurate compared with the pre-
vious one.
It is composed by a primary branch which models the reversible reactions
during the charge/discharge process and that consists of a series resistance R0
and an electromotive force E(SOC). The emf represents the no load voltage of
the battery and it is a function of the SOC. R0 is also a function of the SOC and
it takes into account the voltage drops dependent on the current ow and on the
diusion phenomenons.
There is also a secondary branch which is composed by the non linear resis-
tance Rp and that takes into account the parasitic reactions that are produced
during the charge/discharge process. For instance in lead-acid batteries this phe-
nomenon is identied with the electrolysis of the water (only during the charge)
and in a lot of electrochemical ESS it is associated with the self discharge process.
These two models are not useful because they can be only used in steady
state conditions and they don't consider the dynamical phenomenons. The model
which describes completely the chemical and physical behaviour of the battery is
shown in g. 5.4.
As the circuit previously seen it is composed by two branches, with the only
dierence that the primary one is represented by R-C circuits in addiction to the
resistance R0 and to the electromotive force E(SOC). The higher is the number
of R-C circuits, the higher is the accuracy and the complexity of the model. In
this case the chosen number is equal to two in order to take into account the
diusion and the polarization phenomenons, that cause a dierent response of
5.2 Equivalent model of a battery 95
the voltage compared to the current response.
The electromotive force can be represented by the following equation:
E(SOC) = E0 + Ke θ ln(SOC) (5.6)
where E0 is the emf [V] when the battery is fully charged, Ke is an empirical
coecient and θ is the electrolyte temperature [K].
In the rst R-C circuit, the capacitor C1 models the polarization eect while
the resistance R1 takes into account the over-voltages caused by this phenomenon.
R1 is a function of the SOC and of the instantaneous current as shown in the
following equation:
eAd1 (1−SOC)
R1 = R10 (5.7)
1 + eAd2 i1
where R10 , Ad1 and Ad2 can be found experimentally considering the dynamic
part of the voltage response to a step variation of the current during the charge.
The parallel of R1 and C1 is characterized by a rst order dynamic with a

time constant τ1 in the order of minutes.
In the second R-C circuit, the capacitor C2 models the diusion phenomenons
while the resistance R2 takes into account the related over-voltages. Dening the
Depth Of Charge (DOC) as an indicator of the real state of charge of the battery
in function of its eective capacity, it is possible to express the resistance R2 as:
R2 = R2a − R2b log(DOC) (5.8)
where R2a and R2b can be found experimentally considering the dynamic part of
the voltage response to a step variation of the current during the discharge.
The parallel of R2 and C2 is characterized by a rst order dynamic with a

time constant τ2 in the order of hours.
R0 represents the resistance to the passage of ions in the solution and it is

expressed as:
R0 = R0a (1 − R0c θ) − R0b log(SOC) (5.9)
where R0a , R0b and R0c can be evaluated observing the algebraic part of the
voltage response to a step variation of the current.
Rp can be represented as:

Apv U
− +Apθ ( θθ −1)
Rp = Rpo e Un f (5.10)
where Apθ is the variation of the current with the temperature, Apv /un and Rpo
are found experimentally and θf is the freezing temperature of the electrolyte.
Considering Qe , δθ (dierence between the temperatures of the ambient and of
the electrolyte), i1 and i2 as state variables and taking as positive the current the
enters at the external terminals (charging phase), the model of the electrochemical
ESS can be described by a fourth order system of dierential equations and by a
system of algebraic equations:
im − i2

di2

 =
dt τ2





 di1 im − i1
=



dt τ1 (5.11)
 dQ e

 = −im


 dt
dθ P1 Rθ − θ




 =
dt τθ


 0 = U − R0 im − R1 i1 − R2 i2 − E(SOC)
u


 0 = ip −


Rp (5.12)
 0 = i 0 − im − ip





P1 = R0 i2m + R1 i21 + R2 i22 + U ip

where τθ and Rθ describe the thermal behaviour of the battery, while P1 describes
the joule and the electrochemical losses.
5.3 Main types of batteries

Due to the importance of electrochemical storage systems, dierent types of bat-
teries have been realized. Because each type presents some positive aspects and
some defects, not all of them are suitable for all the applications.
In this section the characteristics, which are continuously evolving, and the
structure of the main systems will be analysed in order to compare them and to
5.3 Main types of batteries 97
establish in this way their eld of interest [36, 24].
Lead acid batteries

Lead acid are the oldest and most widely used rechargeable electrochemical de-
vices. Each cell consists of a positive electrode of lead dioxide and a negative
electrode of sponge lead, separated by a micro-porous material and immersed in
an aqueous sulphuric acid electrolyte (contained in a plastic case).
They are characterized by low cost, high reliability, eciency in the order
of 70 - 90% and high specic power (150 - 400 W/Kg). On the contrary they
have low specic energy (30 - 50 Wh/Kg), short cycle life (500 - 1000 cycles)
and medium/long recharge times. Moreover they have poor performances at low
temperatures and they generally require high maintenance.
Flooded and valve regulated batteries are the main types of lead acid electro-
chemical storage systems.
Sodium sulphur batteries

Sodium sulphur (NaS) batteries consist of molten sulphur at the positive elec-
trode and molten sodium at the negative electrode, separated by a solid ceramic
electrolyte.
The working temperature of the cell is between 300◦ C and 350◦ C. NaS bat-
teries have a typical cycle life up to 4500 cycles, high specic power and energy
(respectively of 150 - 230 W/Kg and 120 - 240 Wh/kg), eciency in the order
of 75 - 90%. Other positive aspects are that there is not self-discharge, there are
no polluting emissions and vibrations and they can be overloaded up to six times
the rated power. The major drawbacks are that the working life reduces with the
temperature decrease of the battery and that initial capital costs are quite high.
Nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries

Nickel cadmium (NiCd) batteries consist of a nickel hydroxide positive electrode
and a cadmium hydroxide negative electrode, separated by an alkaline electrolyte.
They have a robust reliability and very low maintenance requirements, a typ-
ical cycle life of 2000 - 2500 cycles, specic power and energy respectively of 200
W/kg and 50 - 75 Wh/Kg. On the contrary they have high costs, eciency in
the order of 60%, they suer the memory eect phenomenon and they are char-
acterized by a high rate of self-discharge. The main drawback is related to the
presence of Cadmium, which is a toxic and heavy metal.
For this reason, currently, they have been almost completely replaced by
nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, which have a positive electrode equal
to the previous and a negative electrode without Cadmium.
NiMH has higher energy density compared to NiCd, but it is more expensive
due to the greater quantity of nickel that must be used. NiMH batteries also
suer the memory eect phenomenon and they are characterized by an eciency
of 70%.
Metal air batteries

In metal air batteries the anodes are made of metals with high energy density (as
aluminium or zinc) that release electrons when oxidized, while the cathodes are
often made of a porous carbon structure or a metal mesh covered with proper cat-
alysts. The electrolytes are often composed by hydroxide ion conductors such as
potassium hydroxide that can be in liquid form or saturated in a solid membrane.
Metal-Air batteries are the most compact and potentially the least expensive
batteries with a specic energy of 450 - 650 Wh/kg and a negligible self-discharge.
The main disadvantage is that it is dicult to recharge the unit and for this
reason it is generally needed to replace the metals when the battery is totally
discharged. Only few producers supply rechargeable systems that have limited
cycle life (around 100 cycles) and low eciency (50%).
Flow batteries
Flow batteries consist of two electrolyte reservoirs from which the electrolytes are
circulated by pumps through an electrochemical cell composed by cathode, anode
and membrane separator, where the chemical energy is converted in electricity.
The size of the tanks and the amount of electrolytes determine the available
energy of these batteries (energy is stored in the electrolyte solution), while the
power density depends on the rates of the electrode reactions occurring at the
anode and cathode.
They can be distinguished in Vanadium Redox (VRB) and in Zinc Bromin
(ZnBr) batteries. In the rst type the electrolytes and the membrane are com-
5.3 Main types of batteries 99
posed respectively by mild sulphuric acid solutions and hydrogen-ion permeable

polymer membrane. The second topology is characterized by two dierent elec-
trolytes that are separated by micro-porous poly olen membrane and that en-
close the carbon-plastic composite electrodes.
Some of the main characteristics of ow batteries are: high power, long dura-
tion, low maintenance, null self-discharge, easy replacement of electrolytes, fast
response and possibility to pass from charge to discharge modes in about 1 -
20 ms. On the contrary they present low eciencies (due to the energy needed
to circulate the electrolyte and losses in chemical reactions) and a low specic
energy in the range of 30 - 85 Wh/kg.
ZEBRA batteries
The sodium nickel chloride batteries (Na/NiCl2 ) are also known as ZEBRA bat-
teries. A system of this type operates at high temperatures (around 300◦ C) and
uses nickel chloride as its positive electrode.
The advantages of this electrochemical ESS is linked to its relatively high
energy and power density (120 - 140 Wh/kg and 150 - 245 W/kg), high safety,
high cell voltage (2.58 V), eciency in the order of 85% and low environment
impact. On the contrary the disadvantages are linked to the necessity to keep
a high temperature that imply a high self-discharge. Another negative aspect
is that ZEBRA batteries are produced only by one company and only some
prototypes have been realized.
Lithium ion batteries

Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries consist of a lithium metal oxide positive electrode
and graphite carbon negative electrode with a layer structure, separated by an
electrolyte that is made of lithium salts dissolved in organic carbonates.
They are characterized by a high cycle life (up to 2000 cycles), high eciency
(85 - 95% depending on the applications), high specic power and energy (re-
spectively of 150 W/Kg and 140 - 200 Wh/Kg), low maintenance requirements,
high reliability, low rate of self-discharge and absence of memory eect. On the
contrary they present safety problems and high costs.
An evolution of Li-ion is the lithium polymer battery, which is characterized
by a solid electrolyte. This technology allows to reduce the re risk but its appli-
cability is very limited due to the low conductivity of the material. A solution to
this problem, even if it presents a limited market, is obtained by the combination
of polymeric and gelled electrolyte (Li-ion polymer).
Aluminium ion batteries

Recently some scientists started to develop rechargeable Aluminium ion (Al-ion)
batteries that could give a signicant contribution to energy storage and electrical
vehicles applications [37].
They consist of an aluminium metal anode and a three-dimensional graphitic-
foam cathode. The battery operates through the electrochemical deposition and
dissolution of aluminium at the anode and inserting/removing chloroaluminate
anions in the graphite using a non-ammable ionic liquid electrolyte. In this way
the problem of corrosion that should interest the Aluminium anode of the battery
is overcome.
Dierent improvements have been applied to the described structure creating
in this way some prototypes with excellent performances. In particular they have
high energy (four times compared to Li-ion) and power density, high cycle life
(around 7500 cycles), fast recharge, low cost (due to the fact that aluminium is
an abundant and relatively inexpensive metal) and they are particularly safe.
So far these batteries are not present on the market but they are expected to
become important.
Comparison between dierent technologies

Amongst all these batteries, lead-acid is the oldest and most mature technology.
This has been used for a lot of applications and it has been partially replaced by
other systems with higher eciency and energy density.
NiMH technology could have been a good solution for high power application
but it is characterized by high self discharge, low eciency and low energy density.
Metal-air batteries have low cost and high energy densities but they are very
dicult to be recharged.
Flow batteries are also promising for applications which require long duration
and high power storages due to their non-self-discharge capability. The major
drawback of this technology is related to the high installation cost, the low en-
ergy density and the low eciency which limit the applicability to high power
5.4 Li-ion batteries 101
application.
ZEBRA batteries, which are characterized by high eciency and energy den-
sity, could represent a solution for high power applications, as already seen in 4.2.
The Li-ion and NaS batteries seem to represent the leading technologies in
high power or energy applications as ancillary services for the network. In fact
Li-ion possesses the greatest potential for future development and optimization in
this eld thanks to high energy and power densities and to the high eciency. The
disadvantages of this technology are related to the relatively high manufacturing
costs and to the maintainability which impose to install a control and protection
system in order to limit the ageing eect. NaS represents a good alternative for
energy storage thanks to its high eciency and specic power/energy although
it is characterized by high installation costs and by safety problems due to high
operating temperature, which limit the application to large scale systems.
A new solution is the Lithium Ion Capacitor (LIC), which is the combination
of EDLCs and Li-ion batteries. This technology mix the advantages of both of
them, supplying a higher power compared to the single Li-ion battery.
5.4 Li-ion batteries

5.4.1 Structure and applications
Generally a battery that uses insertion reactions for both positive and negative
electrodes with lithium ions as charge carriers can be considered as a Li-ion
battery [38]. In accordance with this denition, there are many types of cell
chemistries dierently from other types of batteries.
A single cell consists of two electrodes (anode and cathode), a separator be-
tween the electrodes, an electrolyte absorbed in the separator and a case which
contains all the cell components. The electrodes are usually formed on a sub-
strate of metal foil (copper for anodes and aluminium for cathodes) by coating
a slurry composed of an active material, a conductive material, a binder, and a
solvent such as N-Methyl Pyrrolidone (NMP) or water.
Most Li-ion batteries use graphite or hard and soft carbon as the anode active
material. Some metal oxides, such as spinel lithium titanate (Li4 T i5 O12 ) and nio-
bium pentoxide (N b2 O5 ), can also be used. Instead the cathode active materials
should contain elemental lithium in the composition to provide a Li-ion source
Figure 5.5: Working principle of Li-ion battery
for cell reactions with the conventional anode active materials. Lithium cobalt
oxide (LiCoO2 ) was used as the cathode active material during the rst stage
of the commercialization. A similar compound (LiN iO2 ) has also been studied
intensively but it was not used because of its thermal instability. Substituted
derivatives of this compound, formulated as LiMx N i1−x O2 (M is a metal dier-
ent from nickel such as Co, Mn, Al, Mg), were developed and used in several
applications. Other active materials used for the cathode can be lithium man-
ganate (LiM n2 O4 ) and lithium iron phosphate (LiF eP O4 ). The combination of
the anode and the cathode materials leads to sixteen possibilities, even if not all
of them are used.
The separator is typically a micro-porous sheet of an organic polymer material
as polyethylene, polypropylene or a hybrid of both, while the electrolyte consists
of organic solvents and lithium salts.
The cell case, which can have dierent structures such as cylindrical, prismatic
and at, can be composed by stainless steel, aluminium or aluminium-laminate
lm. The most important functions of the case are to seal the internal materials
from moisture and oxygen in the exterior, to insulate the terminals of the cell,
to keep the mechanical strength for the unit of a battery module and to ensure
a vent for the internal pressure in case of malfunction.
Fig. 5.5 shows the working principle of Li-ion batteries. During the charge
process the cathode releases lithium ions to the anode, while in the discharge
phase the anode supplies cathode with lithium ions. These reactions are called
respectively insertion and extraction reactions.

The production of these batteries has been continually increasing since their
rst introduction into the market in 1991 because of their excellent performances,
which are related to their high specic energy and power, high energy eciency
and long life.
The specic energy can be seen as the product between the cell voltage and
the specic capacity of the battery. With this technology the specic energy is
high because there are high cell voltages (3-4 V), thanks to the low potential
of the anode active materials. The high energy eciency can be related to the
absence of side reactions (high coulombic eciency) and to the high cell voltages.
The lack of undesired reaction also reduces the ageing eects.
Thanks to these features, Li-ion batteries are used in dierent elds as con-
sumer electronics and automotive applications. Other than these two major cat-
egories, they can also be exploited for energy storage applications, which can be
classied in:
• grid stabilization in presence of unpredictable renewable sources (mitigation

of the production or ancillary services);
• UPS in case of emergency;
• home use to manage the energy with or without the introduction of renew-
able sources.
Energy storage applications require the installation of batteries with high power
and energy, with the consequence that large size storage systems are needed.
For this reason the materials used in cells are not special but they must present
low cost and it is very important to choose a good control system which ensures
safety. Consequently, the cell chemistry of lithium manganate/natural graphite
is thought to be the most promising for this application. However, other cell
chemistries have also been proposed and adopted because there are not solutions
that completely satisfy all the requirements.
In extensive site areas of wind or photovoltaic farms it is not important to
have high energy density, but it must be ensured the long life (more than ten
years) and a limited cost.
Table 5.1: Specications of the GS Yuasa Energy Storage Battery Module

LIM50E-7G
Module arrangment 7 cell in series

Nominal capacity [Ah] 47.5
Nominal voltage [V] 25.9
Nominal energy [KWh] 1.23
Max. discharge power [KW] 7.77
Max. charge current [A] 125
Max. discharge current [A] 300
Dimensions (WxDxH) [mm] 180x412x135
Mass [Kg] 15
5.4.2 Types of Li-ion batteries
Depending on the active materials of anode and cathode, it is possible to consider

four main commercialized types of Li-ion batteries.
LMO type
Theoretically the anode and the cathode active materials should be respectively
graphite and lithium manganate (LiM n2 O4 ). Because manganese suers dissolu-
tion (at high temperature and potentials) that makes both the cathode and anode
capacities decrease signicantly, none of the cathodes for commercialized batter-
ies consist of lithium manganate alone, but all of them have in addition to it some
forms of a compound based on lithium and transition metals (LiMx N i1−x O2 ). In
this way the dissolution of manganate and its eects can be avoided.
LMO type is the commonly adopted cell chemistry for electric vehicles, but
it is also promising for energy storage applications thanks to the low cost and
abundance of the materials used.
The specic capacity for LMO is 100 - 110 Ah/kg (lower than NCA and LFP
types), while the electrode potential is around 4 V vs. Li/Li+ (higher than the
other types).
GS Yuasa Corporation is a Japanese company which developed this type of
battery. Table 5.1 shows the specications for an energy storage battery module
consisting of seven cells. The specic energy and the discharge power are respec-
tively of 82 Wh/kg and 520 W/kg; moreover 70% of the initial capacity is kept
after 3000 cycles. A 1 MW class energy storage system, whose specications are
Table 5.2: Specications of the GS Yuasa 1-MW Class Energy Storage System
Module number 480

Inverter capacity [MW] 1
Battery capacity [MWh] 1
Battery voltage [V] 500
Conversion eciency 88-90%
Response time [s] < 0.5
represented in table 5.2, was designed by the same company using the modules
previously described.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is another Japanese company, also devel-
oped Li-ion batteries based on LMO cell chemistry.
NCA type
NCA theoretically belongs to the LiN iO2 family, which was originally expected
to have greater capacity than lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2 , LCO) and LMO
types but that didn't eectively show sucient thermal and structural stability
for commercial use.
The addition of other metals such as cobalt, that stabilizes the crystal struc-
ture during the charge/discharge process, and aluminium, that improves the
thermal stability during the charge, allowed to create a battery with good per-
formances. It actually presents as active materials for the anode and cathode
respectively graphite and LiN i1−x−y Cox Aly O2 .
The specic capacity for NCA is 150-180 Ah/kg, while the average discharge
potential is 3.75 V vs. Li/Li+ (slightly lower than that of LCO).
Saft Groupe S.A. worked on nickel-based batteries for a long time and recently
it started to develop the new technology based on aluminium and cobalt that
makes this battery suitable for automotive and military applications. The eld
of interest also expanded to energy storage, where this technology exhibited good
results, with a life higher than 1000 cycles and a self discharge lower than 4%.
In table 5.3 the specications of the three types of cells proposed by Saft for
storage applications, from the domestic use to the grid stabilization are shown.
All models are constituted by spirally wound electrode assembled in cylindrical
aluminium cans. The characteristics vary from the high energy of the VL 45E
cell and the high energy and power of the VL 41M cell, to the high power of the
Table 5.3: Specications of Saft Energy Storage Li-Ion Cells
Cell name VL 45E VL 41M VL30P

Nominal capacity [Ah] 45 41 30
Nominal voltage [V] 3.6 3.6 3.6
Operating voltage [V] 4.0-2.7 4.0-2.7 4.0-2.5
Specic energy [Wh/kg] 149 136 97
Energy density [Wh/L] 313 285 209
Specic power [W/kg] 664 (30 s) 794 (30 s) 1136 (30 s)
Max. disch. current [A] 250 (30 s) 300 (30 s) 500 (30 s)
Dimensions (r x H) [mm] 54.3x222 54.3x222 54.3x222
Mass [kg] 1.07 1.07 1.1
VL 30P cell.
In spite of the excellent performance, no other battery manufacturers have
adopted this cathode active material for the large format Li-ion batteries. This
is due to the fact that this type of Li-ion battery is characterized by a high
cost caused by the composition, which consists of nickel and cobalt as the major
components.
LFP type
The cathode active material used for this type of batteries is lithium iron phos-
phate (LiF eP O4 ). The charge and discharge reactions are respectively:
LiF eP O4 −→ F eP O4 + Li+ + e− (5.13)
F eP O4 + Li+ + e− −→ LiF eP O4 (5.14)
Because lithium iron phosphate doesn't decompose easily, it is a unique material

and it allows to have an excellent safety for the battery. On the contrary, it
has low electronic conductivity and it is necessary to apply a carbon coating to
increase it. Moreover the crystal structure of this material allows lithium ions
to move along only one crystal axes direction. For this reason ne particles are
required to increase the eective surface and to guarantee smooth lithium ions
diusion without crystal defects.
The specic capacity for LFP is 169 Ah/kg (higher than LTO and LMO
types), while the charge/discharge voltage is around 3.4 V vs. Li/Li+ .
Table 5.4: Specications of the A123 System Energy Storage Li-Ion Cell AMP
20
Nominal capacity [Ah] 20

Energy [Wh] 65
Specic energy [Wh/kg] 131
Specic power [W/kg] 2400
Dimensions (WxHxD) [mm] 160x227x7.25
Mass [g] 496
Although the specic capacity is larger than the others, LFP batteries have
lower cell voltage and this implies low energy density. This is the reason why this
type of Li-ion batteries are not used for consumer electronics applications. How-
ever, the long life and high charge/discharge rate have attracted much attention
from manufacturers for power/energy applications. Because of the abundance of
lithium iron phosphate, this technology is expected to have low costs. Neverthe-
less, it is also necessary to consider the process costs, which could be high.
A123 Systems is an American company that produced LFP batteries in the
world. For power/energy applications, they rstly developed a 2 MW storage
system that consisted of around 90000 cylindrical cells with a single unit capacity
of 2.3 Ah, which could deliver 2 MW for 15 minutes (4 C). Then they developed a
single cell as the unit of the energy storage systems with the specications shown
in table 5.4. These single cells were connected in parallel and series to form the
appropriate modules. An example is the module that consists of 40 cells, of which
eight are in series and ve in parallel, with a potential of 24 V and a capacity of
100 Ah.
LTO type
LTO is a type of battery which uses Li4 T i5 O12 (or Li4/3 T i5/3 O4 ) as active material
for the anode.
The charge and the discharge processes can be expressed respectively by the
following reactions:
Li4/3 T i5/3 O4 + Li+ + e− −→ Li7/3 T i5/3 O4 (5.15)

Table 5.5: Specications of the Toshiba 20-Ah Class LTO/NCM Cell
Nominal capacity [Ah] 20

Specic energy [Wh/kg] 90
10 s output power [W/kg] 2200
10 s input power [W/kg] 2400
Dimensions (WxHxD) [mm] 115x103x22
Mass [g] 510
Li7/3 T i5/3 O4 −→ Li4/3 T i5/3 O4 + Li+ + e− (5.16)
The specic capacity calculated from the reaction is 165 Ah/kg, which is much
lower than that of batteries with anodes based on graphite. Because LTO scarcely
shows any change in the lattice constants by the insertion of Li ions during the
reduction, the mechanical stress during charge/discharge cycles becomes very
small and this suggests potentially long cycle life.
Another signicant feature of this material is the charge/discharge potential
of around 1.5 V vs. Li/Li+ . This LTO anode associated with one of the cathode
active materials previously mentioned allows to obtain a cell voltage around 2.4
V, which is almost two thirds that of conventional Li-ion batteries used nowadays.
Consequently the specic energy is lower compared to other types. Furthermore
its chemical structure allows to prevent lithium deposition under overcharge con-
ditions and to form a solid electrolyte interphase that increases the interface
resistance at the surface in case of over-currents. These two aspects allow to
ensure a cell life higher than ten years.
This type of battery seems to t applications that require much power, such
as electric vehicles, while the long life also enables them to be used for energy
storage applications.
In table 5.5 the characteristics of a 20 Ah cell produced by Toshiba for energy
storage applications are shown. The active material used for the cathode is
LiN i1−x−y Cox M ny O2 (LiN i1/3 Co1/3 M n1/3 O2 ). A wound electrode assembly is
contained in a prismatic aluminium case. The specic energy of 90 Wh/kg is
not so high, but the ten seconds specic power of 2200 W/kg makes this battery
interesting for dierent applications. The lifetime for the cell capacity to fade
down to 80% of the initial one is predicted to be 15 years, assuming 3 C rate
cycles for 1.5 years and 100% SOC oating for the remaining time.
Table 5.6: Specications of the Toshiba Battery for Utility Grid Energy Storage
Systems
Cell capacity [Ah] 20

Rated current [A] 200
Pulsative max. current [A] 1000
Rated voltage [V] 552
Rated energy [kWh] 110
Dimensions (WxHxD) [m] 1.7x0.815x1.8
Table 5.7: Specications of the Altairnano LTO-Type Single Cells for Stationary
Use
Cell Sp. energy Sp. power Max. charge Cycle Calendar

product [Wh/kg] [kW/kg] rate life [cycles] life [years]
11 Ah 74 1.1 10 C > 15000 > 25
energy cell
50 Ah 72 1 6C > 15000 >25
energy cell
Toshiba developed also two types of energy storage systems: a 2.6 kWh format
for domestic use which is based on prismatic cells (ideals for quick charge) and
a 110 kWh format for utility grids which is based on the same cells previously
treated. The latter is shown in table 5.6.
Altairnano is another company that produces single cells that have a at
structure and that use aluminium-laminate sheet cases. Two types of cells, de-
scribed in table 5.7, show similar characteristics except for the capacities. The
very high estimated cycle life (up to 9000 cycles) and shelf life (up to 25 year)
make this type of cells interesting for grid applications. A 1 MW/250 kWh energy
storage system was built by combining 2800 cells (56 cells for each module) with
a single capacity of 50 Ah. The battery charge/discharge eciencies measured
at 50% SOC were 97% for 250 kW and 91% for 1 MW discharge.
LTO type batteries present dierent performances from that of conventional

Li-ion batteries with carbon material anodes and their diusion in the market
depends on both the material costs and the features needed.
Figure 5.6: Ragone chart of dierent energy storage technologies including LIC,
Li-ion batteries and EDLC
5.5 Li-ion capacitors

If the lithium ion batteries are dominant in consumer electronics, automotive and
energy storage applications due to their high energy density, their relatively low
specic power and their limited cycle life sometimes reduce the performances of
the system in which they are used [39, 40]. EDLCs have a very high power density
but they are limited in terms of specic energy. To close the gap between Li-
ion batteries and double layer capacitors, a combination of the two technologies,
called lithium ion capacitor, has been created.
In g. 5.6 it is possible to observe that LIC presents higher energy density
compared to supercapacitors and higher power density and cycle life compared
to Li-ion batteries.
As shown in g. 5.7, LIC can be classied as a hybrid capacitor. As in Li-
ion battery, the anode is made of carbon materials which are pre-doped with
Lithium. On the cathode side, the material used is activated carbon, similarly to
an EDLC. The used electrolyte is an organic based carbonate mixture.
Applying a potential between the two terminals, the positive (lithium ions)
and negative charges move respectively toward the negative and positive elec-
trodes thanks to the presence of the electric eld. In this way the charges are
5.5 Li-ion capacitors 111
Figure 5.7: Structure of a LIC cell compared to Li-ion battery and EDLC
amassed to form the double layers at the interfaces between the electrolyte and
the electrode. It is possible to observe that the working principle is similar to
that of the EDLC. The dierence is in the presence of lithium ions which are
dissolved in the electrolyte and that move into the anode in order to decrease the
potential of the negative electrode during the charge, so that a high cell voltage
is obtained (between 2.2 and 3.8 V).
Similarly to a EDLC, the equivalent cell capacity is given by the series of
anodic (Canode ) and cathodic (Ccathode ) capacities:
1 1 1
= + (5.17)
Ccell Canode Ccathode
Because in a LIC, thanks to the pre-doping, Canode is much higher than Ccathode ,
the cell capacitance can be approximated with the cathodic one (the specic
capacitance is about 100 F/g). Instead in an EDLC, Canode and Ccathode are
equal and, as a consequence, the cell capacitance is equal to (1/2)Ccathode . For
this reason LIC capacitance is twice compared to EDLC.
Therefore energy density results much higher compared to EDLC thanks to
Table 5.8: Specications of the Toshiba Battery for Utility Grid Energy Storage
Systems
Application Voltage [V] Power [MW] Cycle life [cycles] Duration

Bus 700-800 0.15 1000000 10 s
Metros 800-900 1-2 200000-400000 10-20 s
Load levelling 400 0.2-1000 2500 50-300 min
Back-up power 400 0.001-1 100 15 min
Cranes 800 0.350 1000000 10 s
Figure 5.8: Parameters of ULTIMO cell models produced by JM Energy company
the higher capacitance and to the higher cell voltages; while the composition
of the cathode is the key for the high power density and the high cycle life of
LIC compared to Li-ion batteries. Because their voltage shows a nearly linear
relationship to SOC, dierently from batteries, the control of charging protocol
is not required and it is possible to considerably simplify the algorithm used to
estimate the state of charge. Thanks to its hybrid architecture the LIC is not
subjected to thermal runaway but, because of the dependence of the specic
power to the temperature, it is necessary to implement a thermal management
in order to keep the cells in the appropriate operating conditions so that high
performances can be guaranteed. The temperature stability and the absence of
toxic electrolyte materials make this storage system safe. LICs can sustain more
than two million cycles at very high C rate (200 C), at full DOD, using no rest
time between the end of charging and beginning of discharging and with a very
low self-discharge (lower than 4% in three months).
5.5 Li-ion capacitors 113
Because of their high energy density, excellent cycle life, compact design and
safe characteristics, LICs oer an attractive solution to several transportation
applications. For instance hybrid buses use them to power an electric motor that
operates in parallel to a diesel engine. Moreover by using LIC at the grid side
during a charging cycle of an electric car, the load on the grid can be reduced by
81%, allowing a much more simplied grid connection. As shown in table 5.8, it is
possible to observe that they can also be used for stationary applications, such as
load levelling, voltage sag compensation and back-up for power quality, thanks to
the high compactness, the high specic power and the excellent life characteristics.
In addition to these, they are suitable to be combined with variable speed wind
turbines in order to reduce the eects of unpredictability and with other storage
technologies so that excellent performances can be achieved in many applications.
The JM Energy company produces four types of LIC cells in two dierent
designs (prismatic and laminate), whose specications [41] are shown in g. 5.8.
The prismatic cells are available in two dierent versions: one with 2300 F and
the other with 3300 F and higher specic energy (13 Wh/kg). The cells designed
in a laminate way also present two dierent capacities (1100 F and 2200 F), but
they have the same weight and the same specic energy (10 Wh/kg).
Chapter 6
Battery energy storage systems
Because of the limits related to installation areas, capacity, response times and
costs, storage technologies such as PHS, CAES, SMES and ywheels are not
suitable for all grid applications [42, 36]. On the contrary, electrochemical energy
storage devices oer the exibility in capacity, location and response required to
satisfy a wider range of functions than many other types of storage. While BESSs
currently account for only a small portion of energy storage within the grid,
they are expected to grow thanks to their versatility, eciency and increasing
performances.
BESS applications in power systems can be classied into the following types:
• instantaneous, as rapid spinning reserves, primary frequency regulation and

power quality. These applications require batteries with high power densi-
ties and BESSs which can immediately deliver large power for short times;
• short term, as secondary and tertiary frequency regulation, smoothing of

power output from wind and solar plants, black start capability and voltage
regulation (combining BESS with FACTS devices as STATCOM). These
applications require batteries with modest power and energy densities and
BESS must be able to store energy for a longer time;
• mid term, as load balance and peak shaving. These applications require
high energy density batteries;
• long term, which avoid new generation and transmission construction costs.
These applications require very high energy density batteries.
116 Battery energy storage systems
Instantaneous, short and mid term applications seem to be economically feasible,

dierently from the long term one that requires a detailed analysis.
6.1 Structure of a BESS

A typical BESS structure for grid applications consists of a DC system, a Power
Conversion System (PCS), a Battery Management System (BMS), a System Su-
pervisory Control (SSC) and a grid connection.
In the DC system, individual cells are assembled into batteries which in turn
are put together to create systems of sucient capacity to support the application
requirements. Batteries are connected in series and parallel congurations in
order to obtain a high voltage bus which is connected to the PCS. As mentioned
in sections 4.2 and 5.3, the most suitable technologies for power applications are
Li-ion, ZEBRA and ow batteries, while for energy applications Li-ion and NaS
are preferred.
The PCS is a four-quadrant DC/AC converter (inverter) which connects the
DC system to the grid through a circuit breaker and a transformer (only in MV
networks). It allows to have a bidirectional power ow between the network and
the batteries during charging and discharging phases. The transformer is needed
to decrease the network voltage to suitable values for the power converter.
The BMS is necessary to monitor and guarantee the safety and the optimal
operation of each battery pack, while SSC is needed to control the full system.
As shown in g. 6.1, a BESS can consist of several independent DC subsys-
tems, PCSs, and transformers which together constitute many power blocks. DC
systems can be identical or they can include hybrid battery units of dierent
sizes or types. The operation of individual power blocks is coordinated by a
BMS, while the management of all the power blocks is controlled by the SSC.
6.1.1 BMS and SSC
Each BESS needs to be controlled properly to ensure safe and ecient functioning
while it is meeting the requirements of dierent grid applications.
Even under normal operation, the battery packs of a BESS can have a degra-
dation that can be accelerated during cycling by extreme charging/discharging
6.1 Structure of a BESS 117
Figure 6.1: Illustration of BESS structure composed by many power blocks
patterns, high temperatures (both ambient and operating), overcharging, or un-

dercharging. A basic BMS controls battery packs only to meet the power demand,
while a smarter BMS can reduce the causes of degradation and improve the per-
formance of the system.
The SSC of the BESS is the interface between the grid and the BMSs. The
informations about battery packs are conveyed from the BMSs to the SSC. When
the grid requires power to be supplied from the batteries, the SSC chooses the
optimal protocol for releasing charge taking into account both the current state of
the batteries and the grid request. This SSC protocol asks power from individual
packs in order to meet the nal power demand. During certain periods, the
required power proles of batteries are more exible and the BESS can have more
control over the charging pattern. For example, in a peak shaving application,
the discharge power is imposed but the charge power can be chosen by the BMS
in order to optimize the charging proles. These are communicated to the SSC
which can control the power input from the grid.
The monitoring action of the BMS is performed by a hierarchical hardware
structure in which data processors are situated at multiple levels of the dc system.
At the lowest level, a processor is assigned to monitor and balance individual cells
in a single battery module. Another processor is assigned to monitor and manage
the data and activities of the lower level processors. The top level processor of
the BMS communicates with the SSC, which handles the demands from both the
DC system and the grid. By distributing intelligence to lower level monitoring
systems, only essential informations are sent to the main controller reducing
information trac.
The combination of BMS and SSC is necessary to help the BESS in:
• maintaining a good safety level reducing temperature gradients and keeping

voltages and currents within limits;
• protecting the cells from internal degradation and ageing;
• providing optimal charging patterns;
• performing charge balance between cells (for Li-ion and closed-cell batter-
ies);
• controlling the electrolyte ow rate in accordance with the power demand
(for ow batteries).
All these aspects can be controlled by acting on currents, ambient temperature

(with cooling system) and electrolyte ow (only for ow batteries).
Because internal states of the cells are not accessible to the control systems,
the BMS must be able to accurately estimate the SOH, the SOC and consequently
the time remaining in function of the load. A BMS can improve the battery
performance and prolong its life only if it has access to reliable informations
about these values.
One method to determine the SOC consists in tracking the ow of charge
into and out of the battery (Coulomb counting). Because of the inaccuracies of
current measures, variable losses inside the battery and undesired reactions that
occurs in the system, the estimation of SOC based on this algorithm is not reliable
if it doesn't take into account all the physical realities of the battery. Another
method to estimate SOC consists in the measure of the open circuit voltage at
the terminals of the battery. As the battery SOC decreases, the terminal voltage
also reduces, indicating how much charge remains. This method is more accurate
for some chemistries than for others, but in all cases, complex non-linear models
need to be created. Some batteries, as A123 nanophosphate, have a very at
voltage characteristic in function of the SOC and for this reason it is not possible
to estimate the remaining charge through this method.
The most common method to estimate SOH is to measure a cell internal
equivalent dc resistance, which generally rises with capacity loss. However, some
battery chemistries as A123 nanophosphate do not exhibit trends in resistance
that can reliably indicate SOH. Alternatively, the BMS can determine the battery
state of health by doing a complete charge and discharge cycle under controlled
conditions and measuring the eective capacity. This method provides accurate
estimation of the SOH for any battery type. However, removing a system from
service to test its capacity reduces its overall availability to perform functions
on the grid. When full charges and discharges are not allowed, the need for
detailed and accurate models becomes very important to provide an estimate of
the existing capacity.
6.1.2 Switch-mode DC/AC converters
The switch-mode DC/AC converters are devices used to control the exchange of
power between the grid and the storage system [43, 44]. Considering the simplied
equivalent circuit in g. 6.2a and its AC output waveforms (with an ohmic-
inductive load) in g. 6.2b, it is possible to observe that the power ow, which is
the product between current and voltage, is reversible. When the instantaneous
power is positive, it goes from the DC to the AC side and the converter works
as an inverter; when the instantaneous power is negative, it goes from the AC
to the DC side and the device works as a rectier. This shows that switch-mode
DC/AC converters can operate in all four quadrants in a period (positive and
negative currents and voltages). However, most of the time the power ow is
from the DC to the AC side and for this reason the converter is generally called
inverter.
Inverters can be classied in Voltage Source Inverter (VSI), when the DC
source is a voltage, and Current Source Inverter (CSI), when the DC source is
a current. Because CSIs have limited applications, these are not studied in this
section.
(a) Basic model of the converter (b) AC output waveforms
Figure 6.2: Explanation of the power reversibility in switch-mode DC/AC con-

verters
VSIs can be divided into the following three categories:
• pulse-width-modulated inverters. The DC voltage source is constant and

generally it is obtained by a diode rectier or a battery. The inverter must
regulate the magnitude and the frequency of the AC output voltages thanks
to the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technique used to control inverter
switches. Between all the dierent schemes that can be used to realize this
modulation technique, sinusoidal PWM is the most exploited;
• square-wave inverters. The inverter has to control only the frequency of the
output AC voltage because the magnitude is controlled by acting on the
input DC voltage thanks to a phase-controlled rectier. The AC voltage is
characterized by a square wave;
• single-phase inverters with voltage cancellation. It combines the character-

istics of the two previous inverters and it can only be used in a single phase
conguration. It is possible to control the frequency and the magnitude of
the AC voltage without PWM and with a constant source.
Square wave modulation and PWM will be analysed in detail considering a two
level inverter in a three phase conguration. The scheme represented in g. 6.3
shows that the converter is composed by six controllable switches (generally IG-
BTs) and six diodes connected in anti-parallel with each of them, so that current
Figure 6.3: Electrical scheme of a three phase inverter
can circulate in both directions. The ow of current is free through diodes and
controlled through switches. Each couple of opposite switches cyclically connects
the three terminals of the AC side (R,S,T) to the positive or negative poles (A,
K) of the DC side. In the scheme there are two capacitors in order to understand
how the inverter works, even if in reality only one is used to reduce the ripple
eects in the DC voltage.
Sinusoidal PWM
As shown in g. 6.4, this technique compares two dierent signals in order to
control the switches:
• a modulating signal u0 (t), which is a sinusoidal waveform with an amplitude

Û0 and a frequency f . This signal represents the desired waveform of the
output AC voltage;
• a carrier signal ua (t), which is a triangular waveform with an amplitude Uˆa

and a frequency fc higher than that of the modulating signal.
In a three phase conguration there should be three modulating signals displaced

by 120◦ , but for simplicity only one signal referred to a single phase (R) of the
inverter is considered.
When u0 (t) > ua (t), the switch T4 is on and the phase R is connected to the
pole A. Consequently the voltage Er0 is equal to Ud /2. Instead when u0 (t) <
ua (t), the switch T1 is on and the phase R is connected to the pole K. In this
Figure 6.4: Illustration of the sinusoidal PWM
case the voltage Er0 is equal to −Ud /2. The same technique can also be applied
to the other two phases controlling their switches in order to obtain the voltages
Es0 and Et0 . These quantities are characterized by positive and negative pulses
with a duration respectively of t0 and t00 .
Knowing Es0 , Er0 and Et0 , it is possible to dene the following line to line
voltages at the load terminals:
Urs = Er0 − Es0

Ust = Es0 − Et0 (6.1)
Utr = Et0 − Er0
Generally it is possible to dene the frequency modulation ratio and the ampli-
tude modulation ratio respectively as:
fc
mf = (6.2)
f
Û0
ma = (6.3)
Uˆa
If the amplitude of the modulating signal is lower than the one of the carrier
signal, ma is between 0 and 1. On the contrary, when the modulating signal
has a greater amplitude than the carrier one, ma is higher than 1 and there is
overmodulation. For a high value of ma , sinusoidal PWM degenerates in the
square wave modulation technique. The frequency modulation ratio, depending
on the values assumed by f and fc , can be a rational or an irrational number so
that synchronous and asynchronous sinusoidal PWM techniques can be identied.
Assuming ma lower than 1 and mf suciently large, the rst harmonic of the
phase output voltage corresponds to the modulating signal and, as shown in the
following equation, its amplitude is linearly proportional to ma :
Ud
Ê1 ≈ ma (6.4)
2
Keeping constant f and changing Û0 or keeping constant Û0 and varying f , the
sinusoidal PWM allows to change respectively the amplitude or the frequency of
the output voltage. Furthermore, choosing suitable values of ma and mf , this
modulation results in harmonic components of the voltages in the range of fc or
higher that can be easily ltered out. The harmonic order h can be obtained as:
h = jmf ± k (6.5)
where j and k are two integer numbers. If k is odd, j is even and vice versa.
Square wave modulation

This technique is a particular case of the sinusoidal PWM. In the rst half period
the modulating signal is kept higher than the carrier one so that, considering
the phase R of the conguration shown in g. 6.3, the switch T4 conducts and
consequently the voltage Er0 is equal to Ud /2. In the second half period the
modulating signal is kept lower than the carrier one so that T1 conducts and
Er0 is equal to −Ud /2. In a complete period Er0 turn out to be a square wave.
The other two voltages (Es0 and Et0 ) also present the same waveform but they
are displaced respectively by 120◦ and 240◦ . These voltages and the related line
Figure 6.5: Square wave modulation waveforms
to line voltages (Urs , Ust and Utr ), which are characterized by pulses with an
amplitude of ±Ud for 120◦ , are shown in g. 6.5.
The line to line voltages can be seen as the sum of a fundamental component
u1 (t) and higher order harmonics, except the third and its multiples. The rms
value of the rst order harmonic can be expressed as:
√
6
U1 = Ud (6.6)
π
Considering a balanced and wye connected load and indicating with N the star
point, it is possible to draw the phase voltages of the load. The phase voltage
Ern is shown in g. 6.6.
To summarize, square wave modulation only allows to control the frequency
of the output voltage, while the magnitude must be controlled varying the DC
source. Dierently from sinusoidal PWM, the output voltage contains low order
harmonics that must be ltered out to avoid disturbances on the load.
6.2 Connection rules for BESSs 125
Figure 6.6: Voltage of one phase of a balanced load on the AC side
Table 6.1: Dependence between the installed power of an active user and the
voltage level of the connection point
Power [MW] Voltage level

≤ 0.1 LV
0.1 - 0.2 LV/MV
0.2 - 6 MV
6 - 10 MV/HV
10-200 HV
6.2 Connection rules for BESSs

Each country presents dierent regulations for the connection of a BESS to the
public grid. In this section the Italian rules, based on the standards CEI 0-21
for low voltage network and CEI 0-16 for medium/high voltage networks, will be
analysed.
Because an ESS (except UPS) is considered as a generator, users which present
a storage system in their plant can be classied as active users and they must
follow some prescriptions similar to that of production units. As already analysed,
BESSs interface with the grid through a DC/AC converter and for this reason
they must respect the rules imposed for static generators.
The supply voltage of the network to which an ESS is connected depends on
the installed power, on the relocation of the neighbouring loads, on the structure
of the grid, on the level of disturbances and on the desired reliability. In particular
the dependence between the installed power of a storage system and the voltage
level of the connection point is shown in table 6.1.
Furthermore the plant size is limited by the probability of the power ow
inversion, which must naturally go from HV to MV and from MV to LV networks.
6.2.1 Connection schemes of an ESS
Generally the connection scheme of an ESS is the same for all the voltage levels
of the network, except in the realization of the dierent components. As shown
in g. 6.7 it consists of:
• general relay. It must be able to separate the user plant from the external
network only in case of internal fault;
• interface relay. It must be able to ensure the disconnection of the external

grid from the production plant, allowing it to work in island mode with its
preferential users, and to connect the generating units to the network. This
device is necessary to avoid the supply of the network by the user in case
of faults or maintenance of the grid and to avoid the possibility that the
production units work out of phase with the public grid after a reclosure
of the network switches. More than one interface relay, coordinated by a
protection interface system, can be installed in order to control separately
the generating groups;
• generator relay. It must be able to separate the generator from the user
plant ensuring the starting, the working and the interruption of the pro-
duction unit during its correct operation and allowing its protection during
faults in the generating system. It can substitute the interface relay dur-
ing external faults if generators are connected to the grid through static
converters.
It is possible to observe that the ESS can be connected to dierent points of

the user plant. When it is linked to the DC side, a double stage of conversion
(DC/DC + DC/AC) is essential and the rated power of the generating plant is
given by the nominal power of the inverter. The AC connection of the ESS does
not require a DC/DC converter but only an inverter, which can be connected
downstream or upstream the generator relay. In the second case it is possible to
link the storage system to the part of the plant in which there are preferential
loads able to work in island mode (downstream the interface relay) or to the
section in which island mode operation is not allowed (upstream the interface
relay). Both these solutions require to install a dedicated generator relay on the
ESS side, while only the second conguration needs a dedicated interface relay.
Figure 6.7: Electrical connection scheme of an active user with a storage system
When the storage system is connected to the AC side, the rated power of the
generating plant is given by the sum between the power of the ESS and the one
of all the generating units. In addiction to these possibilities, an ESS can also
work independently from a generating unit.
6.2.2 Working conditions of a static generating unit con-
nected to the grid
To ensure the safe connection of a generating unit to the grid through an inverter,
some rules for the active users have been established.
The production plants in MV networks must be designed and realized to
work in a parallel connection with the electric network during normal operating
conditions, that is when voltage is between 90% and 110% of the rated value
and when frequency is between 49.9 Hz and 50.1 Hz. Furthermore they must be
able to keep the connection to the grid when voltage is included between 85%
and 110% of the rated value and when frequency is between 47.5 Hz and 51.5 Hz
(special working conditions). If voltage and frequency present dierent values, the
(a) Combination between the capability curve (b) Example of capability curve
of a bidirectional inverter and that of an ESS
Figure 6.8: Capability curve of a BESS in MV network
production plant must be disconnected. The reconnection of an inverter after a

maintenance or in case of a generic restart, that is not caused by a malfunctioning,
can be realized only if the network voltage and frequency are kept, for at least 30
seconds, in the limits expressed for normal operating conditions. Instead, in case
of fault, the inverter can be reconnected to the grid only if the frequency is kept
in the same limits for a default time of 300 seconds. In both the reconnection
cases, the generated power must increase with a gradient of 20% of the rated
power per minute.
LV plants are also designed to work in a parallel connection with the electric
grid when voltage is between 85% and 110% of the rated value and when frequency
is between 47.5 Hz and 51.5 Hz, and they must be able to disconnect themselves
if these limits are not respected. The restart can be realized only if voltage is
between 85% and 110% of the rated value and frequency is between 49.9 Hz
and 50.1 Hz for at least 30 seconds after a generic disconnection or at least 300
seconds after a fault.
When a production plant has a shunt connection with the electric network,
it can generate only active power (cos ϕ = 1) or it can also absorb or produce
reactive power (cos ϕ 6= 1) following the capability curves.
The explanation of the capability curve of a BESS installed in the power plant
of an active user connected to the MV network is represented in g. 6.8a. It is
the combination of the inverter capability curve and that of the batteries. In
case of a bidirectional converter the rst one is a circumference whose radius
(a) Combination between the capability curve of (b) Example of capability curve
a bidirectional inverter and that of an ESS
Figure 6.9: Capability curve of BESS in LV network with inverter power higher
than 6 kW
is given by the apparent power (Sn ), while the second one is a rectangle whose
limits are given by the maximum charge/discharge power (PCM AX and PSM AX )
and the maximum inductive and capacitive reactive power of the inverter (±Qi ).
Generally PCM AX and PSM AX are lower than the rated power of the inverter
but they can also be equal to it. Consequently the capability curve of the overall
system is a circumference cut by straight lines which depend on the characteristic
of the batteries.
In g. 6.8b the dashed area represents the capability curve of a BESS in which
batteries limit the power both in charge and discharge phases.
In storage systems connected to a LV network, the inverters must respect the
following requirements depending on their size:
• for rated power lower than 3 kW, they must be able to work with a cos ϕ
higher or equal to 0.98 in reactive power absorption and production;
• for rated power between 3 kW and 6 kW, they must be able to work with a
cos ϕ higher or equal to 0.95 in reactive power absorption and production;
• for rated power higher than 6 kW, they must be able to work with a cos ϕ
higher or equal to 0.90 in reactive power absorption and production.
The explanation of the capability curve of a BESS installed in the power plant
of an active user connected to the LV network is represented in g. 6.9a. It is the
combination between the capability curve of an inverter with rated power higher
than 6 kW and that of the batteries. In the case of a bidirectional converter the
rst one is represented by two triangles and two rectangles (they interest all the
four quadrants of the P-Q plane), while the second one is a rectangle whose limits
are given by the maximum charge/discharge power (PCM AX and PSM AX ) and
the maximum inductive and capacitive reactive power of the inverter (Qmin and
Qmax ). When the converter works in the triangle, it absorbs or generates reactive
power in order to compensate the voltage variations caused by its injection of
active power; whereas when it works between the rectangle and the triangle
it exchanges reactive power in order to provide an ancillary service (it is not
mandatory for all the inverters). Consequently the capability curve of the overall
system is given by a rectangle (or a triangle) cut by straight lines that depend
on the characteristic of the batteries.
In g. 6.9b the coloured area represents the capability curve of a BESS in
which batteries limit the power both in charge and discharge phases.
6.2.3 Rules for the provision of ancillary services
In order to ensure the network stability and safety, an active user which is
equipped with a storage system must provide to the grid some services such
as frequency and voltage regulation.
Participation to the frequency regulation

All the active users connected to MV and LV networks have to participate to the
local frequency regulation, which consists in the injection or absorption of active
power at the load buses.
As shown in g. 6.10, storage systems must be able to change their absorption
and injection of active power depending on the frequency at which the network is
working. The rectangular area between 49.7 Hz and 50.3 Hz denes the possible
working points in normal operating conditions. If frequency rises over 50.3 Hz
(overfrequency), the ESS must absorb active power evolving toward the lowest
quadrilateral vertex. Instead if frequency decreases under 49.7 Hz (underfre-
quency), the ESS must inject active power evolving toward the highest quadri-
lateral vertex. In the case in which the system is overloaded (power higher than
Figure 6.10: Regulation of active power for a storage system
PCM AX or PSM AX ), at rst a normal working point must be restored and then
power has to evolve toward one of the vertexes. When frequency returns into the
limits, the system comes back to normal conditions maintaining the same power
up to the moment in which the frequency band 50 ± 0.1 Hz is reached. When this
condition is kept for at least 300 seconds, the ESS must operate at its ordinary
conditions. If the SOC doesn't allow to respect the power imposed (batteries are
fully charged/discharged), the ESS must turn o itself gradually.
In a near future, with the development of smart grids, plants with a power
higher than 6 kW in LV and 100 kW in MV could be managed by the distributor
in order to limit the output active power in case of overfrequency.
Participation to the voltage regulation

Because the presence of distributed generators connected to MV and LV networks
can lead to overvoltages in the connection points, the Italian standards impose
the following rules in order to control the voltage:
• when voltage is higher than 120% of the nominal value for more than 0.6
seconds in MV networks, the disconnection of the active user is imposed;
• when voltage is higher than 115% of the nominal value for more than 0.2
seconds in LV networks, the disconnection of the active user is imposed;
Figure 6.11: Regulation of reactive power in function of the voltage
• when the average value of the voltage measured in a time of 10 minutes is

higher than 110% of the nominal one, the active user must be disconnected
within 3 seconds.
These rules are applied to the active users interfaced to the grid through an
inverter with a nominal power higher than 3 kW. The plants with a power higher
than 6 kW could be managed by the distributor in order to control the network
voltage through a centralized regulation.
A generating unit, that could be equipped with a storage system, injects or
absorbs only active power in normal operating conditions (cos ϕ = 1). In this
case the only possibility to keep the voltage lower than 110% of the nominal one
is to limit the active power automatically. Dierently, if the system works with
a power factor lower than one (respecting the limits of the capability curves),
it is possible to inject or absorb reactive power in order to provide the voltage
regulation.
The dependence between the injected/absorbed reactive power and the volt-
age is shown in g. 6.11. The parameter k , whose value is chosen by the grid
6.3 Examples of commercialized BESS 133
Figure 6.12: Behaviour of the inverter in case of a voltage dip in MV network
operator or by the user, is required only for electrochemical storage systems and
it can vary between -1 and 1. The reactive power limits (Qmin and Qmax ) are
given by the capability curves, while the voltage limits (V1 and V2 ) are imposed
by the distributor. If the voltage is between 92% and 108% of the rated value,
the reactive power can move in a range between −kQmax and kQmax . Outside
these limits, the system must absorb or inject reactive power following the bands
in the graph in order to provide the ancillary service.
Moreover, inverters with a power higher than 6 kW must be able to not
disconnect themselves in presence of a voltage dip, following some impositions.
In particular g. 6.12 shows the behaviour that a system interfaced to the MV
network must respect.
6.3 Examples of commercialized BESS

A lot of companies in the world have been specialized in the production of modular
electrochemical storage systems able to improve the network performances.
ABB produces single and three phase systems available in several capacities
(from 50 kWh to 6000 kWh) with individual modules up to 4 MW of power and
an output voltage range from 120 V to 40.5 kV at 50 or 60 Hz [45]. All the
solutions are equipped with AC and DC protections, an inverter, a supervisor
control system and a transformer combined with a MV switchgear (only for MV
Figure 6.13: Structure of a modular ABB BESS
applications). In three phase congurations and for powers between 1 MW and

4 MW, these components are installed in an independent unit called Connection
Equipment Module (CEM). In addition to these devices there are Li-ion batteries
with their BMS which are installed in another enclosure. The overall structure
of the system is shown in g. 6.13.
Bosch produces modular BESSs able to obtain up to 100 MW of installed
power for domestic, industrial and grid applications [46]. In Braderup (Ger-
many), a wind farm with an installed power of 18 MW was equipped with a
Bosch storage system based on LIC and vanadium-redox ow batteries for a to-
tal storage capability of 3.4 MWh. This solution allowed to avoid curtailment of
wind generation, to increase local consumption and to provide ancillary services
for the grid.
Siemens produces modular BESSs based on prefabricated cabinets called
Siestorager [47]. Each of them contains control electronics and a maximum
of sixteen battery modules, that are characterized by a voltage at the DC ter-
minals of 60 V. Siplinkr is the power converter that interfaces batteries with
the AC grid, while Simatic S7r controls all the cabinets which are connected
to the AC bus (up to twelve units). Thanks to its modularity, Siestorage can
provide a maximum of 8 MW and 2 MWh and it is suitable for all applications.
Furthermore the integration of the cabinets into a containerized enclosure (up to
24 Siestorage and 2 Simatic S7) ensures a particularly easy application because
of its transportability. An air-conditioning system makes the smooth operation
possible even at extreme ambient temperatures.
Fiamm realized, in collaboration with other Italian companies, the so called
Fiamm Green Energy Island [48]. It is one of the rst worldwide plants based on
renewable sources, consisting of a BESS that support solar panels. The storage
technology is based on NaS batteries for a total stored energy of 230 kWh. The
plant, which produces 200 MWh per year, is connected to the grid and it has a
peak power of 181 kW. This solution allows to reduce CO2 emissions, to improve
the safety of the grid and to avoid the loss of energy in moments of high production
for solar panels.
Possible solutions of BESSs produced by ABB, Bosch and Siemens are repre-
sented respectively in tables 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4.
Table 6.2: Specication of BESSs produced by ABB

Power/energy Output voltage Dimensions Cycle life
[kW/kWh] [kV] (WxDxH) [mm]
25/50 Up to 0.69 Connection equipment (one): 2000 cycles
1185x710x1710 at rated power
Battery Enclosure (one): and energy
1715x1610x1470
50/125 Up to 0.69 8141x2513x2539 The system will charge
or discharge, per 5 years, in
response to a frequency
regulation signal received
every 4 seconds
500/1500 Up to 0.69 Connection equipment (one) 2000 cycles
or 24 4830x2515x2539 at rated power
Battery Enclosure (two): and energy
12192x2438x2591
1000/250 Up to 0.69 15000x2513x2539 The system will charge
or 24 or discharge, per 5 years, in
response to a frequency
regulation signal received
every 4 seconds
Battery Enclosure (three): and energy
13400x2513x2539
2000/500 Up to 0.69 Connection equipment (one): The system will charge
or 24 6096x2438x2591 or discharge, per 5 years, in
Battery Enclosure (two): response to a frequency
12192x2438x2591 regulation signal received
every 4 seconds
Battery Enclosure (six): and energy
13400x2591x2539
4000/1000 Up to 0.69 Connection equipment (one): The system will charge
or 24 12192x2438x2591 or discharge, per 5 years, in
Battery Enclosure (two): response to a frequency
12192x2438x2591 regulation signal received
every 4 seconds
Table 6.3: Specication of BESS produced by Bosch

Nominal voltage Medium voltage
Number of phases 3
Frequency [Hz] 50
Maximum output power [MVA] 2 (scalable to other powers)
Main applications Integration of renewable energy, area regulation,
reduction of grid congestion, trade on energy
markets, ancillary services
Installed AC capacity [MWh] 2 (scalable to other energies)
Technology Li-ions
Expected cycle life [cycles] >4500
Expected calender life [years] >10
Battery round-trip eciency 95%
Ambient temperature range [◦ C] 0-40
Relative humidity 0-90%
Installation site Outdoor
Altitude [m] Up to 1000
Enclosure Installed in ISO shipping containers
Control features Overtemperature, over/under voltage protection,
interlock loops, alarms, re suppression
Dimensions (WxDxH) [m] 14x2.4x2.9
Weight [kg] 80000
Connectivity Internet, Modbus TCP/IP
Installation Minimal due to pre-fabricated system,
slide-in modular technique for batteries
Table 6.4: Specication of BESSs produced by Siemens

Usable capacity Rated power Peak Rated
[kWh] performance voltage [V]
16-24 32-96 kW 48-144 kW 230/400 Smallest unit available.
48-72 96-288 kW 144-432 kW 230/400 A combined control and grid connection cabinet
is used for up to four energy storage cabinets.
80-120 160-480 kW 240-720 kW 230/400 One control and one grid connection cabinet
are used from ve up to 12 energy storage cabinets.
Up to 500 1000-2000 1500-3000 230 and 24 energy storage cabinets
kVA kVA up to 52k and two control as well as two grid connection cabinets
can be installed in a standard container. The storage
unit can be connected to the medium-voltage grid with
a medium-voltage transformer and switchgear.
Multiples Multiples Multiples 230 and Systems larger than 2 MVA/500 kWh can
of 500 of 2000 kVA of 3000 kVA up to 52k be scaled with several standard containers. The
storage unit can be connected to the medium-voltage
grid with a medium-voltage transformer and switchgear
Chapter 7
Modelling of the network and

simulations
The purpose of this chapter is to study the behaviour of BESSs and the impor-
tance that they can have in the improvement of the network stability.
A steady state analysis has been preferred to a transient analysis because it

allows to easily study the power ow and to check the energy balance hour by
hour for the entire day in the electrical system. In particular only the frequency
stability has been considered and for this reason the reactive power ows have
been neglected.
The IEEE-30 bus test system has been chosen as reference network for the
simulations. The reason is that, being characterized by medium and high voltage
areas, it is suitable to analyse the installation of BESSs and new generators both
on the distribution and on the transmission systems.
The software Plexosr turns out to be appropriate for this purpose because
it allows to reproduce the electrical network and to analyse the trend of all the
variables in a large time interval.
Dierent scenarios have been analysed in order to study some problems and
their possible solutions. In particular it has been simulated a situation in which
only conventional power plants are present (Scenario 1), a scenario character-
ized by 20% of unpredictable renewables (Scenario 2) and a hypothetical future
scenario in which the penetration of renewables is very high (Scenario 3).
140 Modelling of the network and simulations
7.1 Software description

Plexosr is a software which allows to provide high performance simulations essen-
tially for electrical systems, but also for water and gas networks [49]. It supports
multiple spatial analyses, from a full nodal network model to a zonal or regional
model. As such, it is capable of calculating the system marginal price, trans-
mission congestions, losses and other aspects useful for the TSOs. This software
oers the same algorithms that the TSOs use to organize the optimal power ow
in function of the technical and economical aspects. Users can create a com-
plete system by modelling fundamental elements (transformers, lines, generators,
loads) and by dening their technical and economical parameters.
Modelling can be performed according to various time scales:
• Long Term (LT) Plan. This performs the long-term expansion planning
function with a typical range of 10-30 years. The purpose of the LT Plan
model is to nd the optimal combination of new builds, retirements and
production decisions over the entire period;
• Medium Term (MT) Schedule. This optimizes decisions both for long term
(in a range of weeks, months or years) and in the short term level (hours or
lower). It can be useful in hydro-thermal coordination and fuel-scheduling
applications, where the respect of constraints is essential. MT Schedule can
be run on a week-by-week or month-by-month basis, allowing to reduce the
simulated periods;
• Short Term (ST) Schedule. This is essentially a production/cost simula-

tion tool that, dierently from MT and LT, simulates electricity dispatch
by hourly or smaller time steps. ST represents an optimization of the dis-
patching performed during the MT schedule because it allows to respect
the constraints imposed in the model or to minimize their violations;
• Projected Assessment of System Adequacy (PASA). On the one hand it is

used to create maintenance events for the subsequent simulation phases
MT and ST Schedules, on the other hand it is useful to compute reliability
statistics.
In order to perform simulations, ST schedule with a hourly interval length has

7.2 Description of the simulated electric network 141
Figure 7.1: Single line diagram of the IEEE 30 bus network
been chosen. This allows to study the power balance in the electric network and
how the dispatch is organized hour by hour in a time horizon of one day.
7.2 Description of the simulated electric network

The IEEE 30 Bus Test Case represents a model of the electric power system in
the northern central part of the United States of America (Midwestern US) as
it was in 1961. Data were rstly provided by Iraj Dabbagchi and then entered
in IEEE Common Data Format for scientic research and publications by Rich
Christie at the University of Washington in August 1993 [50, 51]. The single line
diagram of the electrical grid is represented in g 7.1.
The IEEE test network consists of 30 nodes, 6 generators, 23 loads, 34 lines
and 4 transformers. The nominal frequency is 60 Hz and the voltage levels are
Table 7.1: Conventional generators data

Name Bus Max/Min Start up/ Ramp up/ Min up/ Start cost Start cost LCOE
power [MW] shut down ramp down min down time [h] [e] [e/MWh]
ramp [MW/min] [MW/min] time [h]
Gen_1 1 200/50 70/60 25/25 5/3 5 400 78
Gen_2 2 80/20 70/60 25/25 4/2 4 350 85
Gen_5 5 50/15 70/60 15/15 2/1 1 150 107
Gen_8 8 35/10 70/60 10/10 1/1 1 130 120
Gen_11 11 30/10 70/60 10/10 0.5/0.5 0.5 125 130
Gen_13 13 40/12 70/60 15/15 1.5/1 1 140 115
132 kV, 33 kV, 11 kV and 1 kV. These last two voltage levels were introduced by
Rich Christie, who changed the original conguration of the network in which all
the bus voltages were 132 kV and 33 kV.
The costs of generators, lines and transformers provided by the IEEE Common
Data Format have not been considered in the simulations because they are dated
and consequently they are not suitable to represent recent and future scenarios.
Conventional generators data are listed in table 7.1. Gen_11 is a turbogas
generator, Gen_1 and Gen_2 are combined cycle plants, while the others are
combined cycle or rankine units. Data regarding maximum and minimum power
are provided by [50], while the others can be found in [52]. The Levelized Cost Of
Electricity (LCOE) takes into account the production costs that depend on the
fuel used, on the operation and maintenance costs, on the investment costs and
on the equivalent operating hours [53]. It results that the lower is the number of
equivalent operating hours, the higher is the LCOE of a generating plant. This
is the reason why Gen_5, Gen_8 and Gen_13 are characterized by a cost of
energy similar to that of the turbogas unit. Depending on the situation that will
be shown, these generators could be turned o and substituted by other types of
plants.
In some of the dierent scenarios that have been analysed, generators based
on renewable sources have been also considered. Their data will be shown in
the sequel because they are subjected to some variations according to the case of
study.
Loads data are listed in table 7.2. For each node a Load Participation Factor
(LPF) has been dened as the ratio between the active power of the bus and
the total one. Because the purpose of the simulation is to reproduce a scenario
similar to that of the Italian network, the active power values provided by IEEE
have been only used to organize the load distribution at each bus. The total
7.2 Description of the simulated electric network 143
Table 7.2: Loads bus data

Bus Voltage Active power LPF
number [kV] [MW]
1 132 0.00 0.00000
2 132 21.7 0.07657
3 132 2.40 0.00847
4 132 7.60 0.02682
5 132 94.2 0.33239
6 132 0.00 0.00000
7 132 22.8 0.08045
8 132 30.0 0.10586
9 1 0.00 0.00000
10 33 5.80 0.02047
11 11 0.00 0.00000
12 33 11.2 0.03952
13 11 0.00 0.00000
14 33 6.20 0.02188
15 33 8.20 0.02893
16 33 3.50 0.01235
17 33 9.00 0.03176
18 33 3.20 0.01129
19 33 9.50 0.03352
20 33 2.20 0.00776
21 33 17.5 0.06175
22 33 0.00 0.00000
23 33 3.20 0.01129
24 33 8.70 0.03070
25 33 0.00 0.00000
26 33 3.50 0.01235
27 33 0.00 0.00000
28 132 0.00 0.00000
29 33 2.40 0.00847
30 33 10.6 0.03740
active power absorbed by the load hour by hour has been computed as:
PT erna
Pabsorbed = Pnetwork (7.1)
PItaly
where PT erna is the hourly power required by the Italian load, PItaly is the total
Italian installed power and Pnetwork is the total installed power in the simulated
network.
Lines and transformers data, as shown respectively in tables 7.3 and 7.4, are
given in per unit based on 100 MVA. Data in table 7.4 that are characterized
by the same transformer number represent the dierent terminal parameters of
a three winding transformer.
Table 7.3: Lines data

Name From To Series Half line Rating
bus bus impedance (pu) susceptance (pu) power [MVA]
L_1-2 1 2 0.01920+j0.05750 0.02640 130
L_1-3 1 3 0.04520+j0.18520 0.02040 130
L_2-4 2 4 0.05700+j0.17370 0.01840 65
L_3-4 3 4 0.01320+j0.03790 0.00420 130
L_2-5 2 5 0.04720+j0.19830 0.02090 130
L_2-6 2 6 0.05810+j0.17630 0.01870 65
L_4-6 4 6 0.01190+j0.04140 0.00450 90
L_5-7 5 7 0.04600+j0.11600 0.01020 70
L_6-7 6 7 0.02670+j0.08200 0.00850 130
L_6-8 6 8 0.01200+j0.04200 0.00450 32
L_12-14 12 14 0.12310+0.25590 0.00000 32
L_12-15 12 15 0.06620+0.13040 0.00000 32
L_12-16 12 16 0.09450+j0.19870 0.00000 32
L_14-15 14 15 0.22100+j0.19970 0.00000 16
L_16-17 16 17 0.08240+j0.19320 0.00000 16
L_15-18 15 18 0.10700+j0.21850 0.00000 16
L_18-19 18 19 0.06390+j0.12920 0.00000 16
L_19-20 19 20 0.03400+j0.06800 0.00000 32
L_10-20 10 20 0.09360+j0.20900 0.00000 32
L_10-17 10 17 0.03240+j0.08450 0.00000 32
L_10-21 10 21 0.03480+j0.07490 0.00000 32
L_10-22 10 22 0.07270+j0.14490 0.00000 32
L_21-22 21 22 0.01160+j0.02360 0.00000 32
L_15-23 15 23 0.10000+j0.20200 0.00000 16
L_22-24 22 24 0.11500+j0.17900 0.00000 16
L_23-24 23 24 0.13200+j0.27000 0.00000 16
L_24-25 24 25 0.18850+j0.32920 0.00000 16
L_25-26 25 26 0.25440+j0.38000 0.00000 16
L_25-27 25 27 0.10930+j0.20870 0.00000 16
L_27-29 27 29 0.21980+j0.41530 0.00000 16
L_27-30 27 30 0.32020+j0.60270 0.00000 16
L_29-30 29 30 0.23990+j0.45330 0.00000 16
L_8-28 8 28 0.06360+j0.20000 0.02140 32
L_6-28 6 28 0.01690+j0.05990 0.00650 32
Table 7.4: Transformers bus data

Transformer Name From To Series Tap Rating
number bus bus impedance (pu) setting power [MVA]
1 Transf_4-12 4 12 0.000+j0.256 1.0129 65
1 Transf_12-13 12 13 0.000+j0.140 - 65
2 Transf_6-10 6 10 0.000+j0.556 0.9629 32
3 Transf_6-9 6 9 0.000+j0.208 1.0155 65
3 Transf_9-10 9 10 0.000+j0.110 - 65
3 Transf_9-11 9 11 0.000+j0.208 - 65
4 Transf_27-28 28 27 0.000+j0.369 0.9851 65
7.3 Simulation analyses 145
7.3 Simulation analyses

In the performed simulations, the presence and the penetration of renewable
sources change depending on the dierent scenarios.
In the case of photovoltaic plants, solar radiation data are provided by GSE
(Gestore Servizi Energetici) [54] and they correspond to the national average
values computed month by month. In the month in which solar radiation reaches
the maximum value of the year, it has been chosen that photovoltaic plants could
be able to produce a power equal to their installed capacity. On the contrary, in
the other cases, plants could only produce a percentage of their total installed
power (proportionally to the ratio between the peak of solar radiation of the
month and the maximum radiation of the year).
Regarding wind power plants, data of the maximum wind speed for dierent
months refer to the area of Campobasso [55], which is important in Italy for the
high penetration of aeolian. Similarly to the solar production, in the month in
which the speed reaches the maximum value of the year, it has been chosen that
wind plants could be able to produce a power equal to their installed capacity.
On the contrary, in the other months, plants could only produce a percentage of
their total installed power (proportionally to the cube of the ratio between the
peak of wind speed of the month and the maximum speed of the year).
The choice of a local prole as reference for wind data is due to the fact that
wind availability is not uniform on the entire national area. On the contrary,
the radiation prole is similar in all Italian regions and for this reason a national
prole as reference for photovoltaic generation has been considered.
Both for solar and wind generators, the hour by hour generation proles have
been acquired from Terna's data [56]. With this choice, the generation prole of
the plants based on renewable sources is similar to the Italian one.
Hydroelectric has not been considered because its installed power is not show-
ing an increasing trend in the last few years similarly to the other major renewable
sources. PHS could be used to improve the stability of the network but the draw-
backs lie in the scarcity of available sites for two large reservoirs and in the fact
that a high capacity is already installed, with the consequence that it is dicult
to build new plants that should support new renewable generators. This is the
reason why only BESSs have been studied.
Because both generation and load proles are dierent depending on the day
of the year, it is necessary to analyse various days so that the response of the
system in some critical conditions can be studied. Load proles have been taken
from Terna and they refer to 2013 [56]. As already mentioned in eq. 7.1, all the
hourly values of the load are adapted to the installed capacity of the reference
network, which is equal to 555 MW considering both the conventional and the
renewable generation, so that the percentage of the required power is the same
of the Italian grid.
The following days have been considered:
• July 26, 2013. It represents the peak of required power in the entire year
and it can be used to model a summer day with high demand. In this
case the peak of power is reached between 11 a.m. and 12 a.m. with a
percentage of 42.1% (233.5 MW) of the total installed capacity. Because
July days are characterized by the highest solar radiation (up to 881 W/m2 ),
all photovoltaic plants could be able to produce their maximum power1 ;
• August 15, 2013. It represents a low demand day during the summer in
which the minimum is reached between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. with a percentage
of 17.9% (99.2 MW) of the total installed capacity. Similarly to July days,
the solar radiation is very high (up to 870 W/m2 ) and this is the reason
why photovoltaic plants could theoretically produce 98.8% of the maximum
power1 ;
• December 26, 2013. It represents a low demand day during the winter in
which the minimum is reached between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. with a percentage
of 15.9% (88.4 MW) of the total installed capacity. During December days
the speed of the wind is the highest of the year (up to 6 m/s) and for this
reason all the wind generators could be able to produce their maximum
power1 ;
• January 25, 2013. It represents a high demand day during the winter. In
this case the peak of power is reached between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. with a
percentage of 39.7% (220.1 MW) of the total installed capacity. Similarly
to December days, the wind speed is very high (up to 5.8 m/s) and this
is the reason why aeolian plants could theoretically produce 90.3% of the
maximum power1 .
1 only in the scenarios in which there are renewable sources
Figure 7.2: Load proles
Load proles in function of time are shown in g. 7.2, while the renewables
generation proles are shown in g. 7.3.
In all scenarios it has been chosen that each conventional generator must
guarantee an upper and a lower reserve of active power equal to 1.5% of its
installed capacity. When renewable sources are present, conventional generators
have to increase their available reserves because solar and wind plants are not
able and compelled to do this service. In particular the provision of the additional
reserve power for each generator is proportional to its installed capacity. With
the introduction of BESSs, renewables reserves are provided by these systems
and the conventional units can re-establish their mandatory reserve values of
1.5%. Moreover it has been chosen that batteries must work between 5% and
95% of their SOC so that they have an amount of available energy for the reserves
provision.
(a) Photovoltaic
(b) Aeolian
Figure 7.3: Percentage of renewables generation prole

Figure 7.4: Generation proles - Scenario 1 - July 26
7.3.1 Simulation of Scenario 1
Because there are only conventional generators, the studied network is a partic-
ular case that does not reect the real situation for Italy and for the majority of
the electrical grids analysed in chapter 1. This scenario could be attributed to a
past situation in which the penetration of unpredictable renewable sources in the
Italian electrical network, such as solar and wind, was not high. For the sake of
simplicity, the same load proles and generators distribution already described
have been considered.
Gen_1, being forced to be always on because it is the most economical source,
provides a spinning reserve for the system. The other generators instead can be
on or o providing in this way a non-spinning reserve.
July 26 and January 25

Analysing the day July 26, it is possible to observe in g. 7.4 thatGen_1 is not
able to supply the load by itself for the entire day. For this reason Gen_2 has
to turn on between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. in order to cover the load demand and it
works at its minimum allowed value (21.2 MW) for ve hours.
This behaviour is not good because a combined cycle power plant is contin-
Figure 7.5: Generation proles - Scenario 1 - December 26
uously turned on and o. In a situation like this, the installation of a storage
system would be able to improve the eciency of the network because the addi-
tional energy that could be provided by Gen_1 would be sucient to turn o the
other combined cycle plant, but the required energy would be very high (approx-
imately 330 MWh). Nevertheless, as BESSs are concerned as storage technology,
this solution wouldn't have been cost eective in a past situation. Furthermore,
considering a small increase of the load, Gen_1 would be not able to provide an
energy sucient to turn o Gen_2.
The same problems, with the only dierence that Gen_2 is turned on between
7 a.m. and 9 p.m., arise simulating the day January 25. This is due to the fact
that both situations represent days of high load request.
December 26 and August 15

Analysing the day December 26, it is possible to observe in g. 7.5 that Gen_1
is able to supply the load by itself for the entire day so that Gen_2 and all the
other plants are kept o.
The same behaviour repeats on August 15 because both situations represent
days of low load request.
Table 7.5: Data of renewable generators - Scenario 2
Name Bus Max/Min LCOE

power [MW] [e/MWh]
Wind_7 7 40/0 95
Photovoltaic_3 3 60/0 100
Table 7.6: Lower and upper reserves distribution - Scenario 2
Generator Mandatory Additional Total

name provision [MW] provision [MW] provision [MW]
Gen_1 3 0.828 3.828
Gen_2 1.200 0.330 1.530
Gen_5 0.750 0.207 0.957
Gen_8 0.525 0.145 0.670
Gen_11 0.450 0.124 0.574
Gen_13 0.600 0.166 0.766
Total 6.525 1.800 8.325
In order to reect the real scenario of the Italian grid in 2013 regarding the in-
stalled power, it has been chosen to create a network composed by approximately
20% of wind and solar plants.
Data of renewable generators are listed in table 7.5. The total installed power
of wind and solar plants, which have been placed on the high voltage side, is re-
spectively of 40 MW (33.4% of renewables) and 80 MW (66.6% of renewables). On
the one hand the LCOE values, which are provided by [53], are higher compared
to some combined cycle power plants. The reason is that the initial capital costs
of renewable plants are greater than that of conventional systems. On the other
hand generators based on renewable sources have null marginal price because
there are no fuel costs but only operational and maintenance costs. This aspect,
together with the low environmental pollution, makes renewables favourable. In
order to avoid loss of green energy and to analyse their problems, it has been
chosen to force them to work at their maximum value hour by hour.
Without BESSs, the reserve provision for conventional power plants is dis-
tributed as shown in table 7.6. Each generating unit has to guarantee the sum
of mandatory and additional provisions in order to cover the 1.5% reserve that
Figure 7.6: Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 2 - July

26
renewable plants should have provided (1.8 MW).

Gen_1, being forced to be always on because it is the most economical con-
ventional source, provides a spinning reserve for the system. The other generators
instead can be on or o providing in this way a non-spinning reserve.

Analysing the day July 26, it is possible to observe in g. 7.6 that Gen_1 is
always on. Even if plants based on renewable sources operate at their maximum
available power, Gen_2 is turned on between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and it always
works at its minimum allowed value (21.53 MW) providing 86.12 MWh. All the
other generators are kept o during the entire day.
This behaviour is not good because a combined cycle power plant is turned
on only for few hours. Theoretically Gen_1 and renewables could be able to
supply the load between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., but in this time interval there is an
overloading problem for the line L_1-2. In particular, as shown in g. 7.7, at 6
p.m. lineL_1-2 is working with a loading of 97.91%. Because at the same hour
renewables dramatically decrease their generation, starting from 7 p.m. Gen_1
should increase its power. The consequence is that L_1-2 would be overloaded
Figure 7.7: Loading of transmission lines - Scenario 2 - July 26
and a lot of power would ow in L_1-3 and L_3-4, that are characterized by
high impedances and high losses. Therefore Gen_2 is kept on in order to avoid
all these congestion problems of the network.
Line L_1-2 also works with high loading between 8 a.m. and 12 a.m., but
in this case Gen_2 is not turned on because photovoltaic plants supply a great
amount of the load and Gen_1 is not compelled to increase its power.
The installation of a BESS at bus 6 (BESS_6 ) allows to improve the operation
of conventional power plants. With a battery system of 35 MWh and 13 MW,
power ow is optimized so that Gen_2 is completely turned o without the
overloading of transmission lines. The parameters of BESS_6 are lower compared
to the energy and the power provided by Gen_2. This is due to the fact that
this plant has to work at least for 4 hours at its minimum allowed level, even if
the power eectively needed to avoid the congestion is lower and it is required
for a shorter time interval.
In g. 7.8 the SOC and the charge/discharge power (negative/positive values)
of the electrochemical device during the entire day are represented. Observing
the SOC prole, it is possible to note that BESS_6 charges up to 7 p.m., except
between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and then it starts to discharge providing power that
allows to turn o the combined cycle plant. The power necessary to charge
(a) SOC
(b) Charge/discharge power
Figure 7.8: BESS characteristic - Scenario 2 - July 26

the batteries is given by Gen_1 that, during the hours in which there are not
overloading problems, increases its generation in comparison to the case where no
BESSs are installed (production varies from 3717 MWh to 3804 MWh during the
day). The maximum charging and discharging power of BESS_6 is respectively
of 1.8 MW and 10.34 MW. The fact that the storage system never reaches 13 MW
during charge and discharge phases conrms that it makes available a reserve of
power (1.8 MW) useful in case of contingencies.
Analysing the day January 25, which is also characterized by high load de-
mand, it is possible to observe that the system behaves similarly to July 26.
Gen_1 is always on, all conventional power plants, except Gen_2, are kept o
during the entire day and all the plants based on renewable sources work at their
maximum power hour by hour. In particular Gen_2 is also turned on for four
hours at its minimum allowed level (21.53 MW) so that it can avoid overloading
problems; the only dierence compared to the previous case is that it operates
between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. In this situation the contingency would happen in
the morning because the renewables don't contribute signicantly to the energy
balance.
The same battery system used for July 26 can be used to solve the overloading
problem and to turn o Gen_2.
August 15
Analysing the day August 15, it is possible to observe in g. 7.9 that Gen_1 is
always on and that it works at its minimum allowed value (53.83 MW) for seven
hours, while all the other conventional power plants are always kept o.
Because load demand is low and solar production is considerable, between 10
a.m. and 5 p.m. Gen_1 should decrease its production under its lower operating
limit. The impossibility to achieve this working condition for the generator brings
to a problem of overproduction (dump energy), as shown in g. 7.10.
This problem has been solved through the installation of two identical BESSs
at buses 4 and 6 (BESS_4 and BESS_6 ). Each battery systems, whose SOC
and charge/discharge power (negative/positive values) are shown in g. 7.11, are
characterized by an energy and a power respectively of 42 MWh and 11 MW.
Observing the SOC prole, it is possible to state that the two systems charge
when there is overproduction and that they discharge within midnight. The
Figure 7.9: Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 2 - August

15
Figure 7.10: Overproduction - Scenario 2 - August 15

(a) SOC
Figure 7.11: BESSs characteristics - Scenario 2 - August 15

Figure 7.12: Generation proles of conventional power plants with Gen_1 turned
o - Scenario 2 - August 15
maximum SOC reached by BESS_4 and BESS_6 is respectively of 95% and

91.89%. This proves that BESSs allow to completely exploit solar plants storing
energy in excess when it is necessary and generating when renewables contribution
is not relevant. The maximum charging/discharging power of each battery system
is equal to 10.10 MW. The fact that BESSs never reach 11 MW during charge
and discharge phases conrms that they make available a reserve of power (for
a total of 1.8 MW) useful in case of contingencies. Moreover it is possible to
observe that when the overproduction reaches its maximum value (19.83 MW)
between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., BESSs absorb a power of only 19 MW. In reality,
when batteries are considered, the maximum excess of generating power is lower
than 19.83 MW because the reserve of Gen_1 is restored to the mandatory value
of 1.5% so that the unit can decrease its production up to 53 MW. Therefore the
charge power is sucient to completely balance the system.
An alternative solution to solve the problem of dump energy could consist
in the exclusion of Gen_1, as shown in g. 7.12. In this way Gen_2 would be
able to decrease its output power between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. up to 34 MW,
Gen_1. The
which is much lower compared to the minimum reachable value of
consequence is that the energy provided by renewables and Gen_2 precisely
Figure 7.13: Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 2 - De-

cember 26
satises the load demand, without leading to an overproduction.

Because during the night the contribution of renewable sources is low, it is
necessary to turn on one of the other power plants. In particular Gen_5 is on
for 14 hours (between midnight and 8 a.m. and between 6 p.m. and midnight)
and it reaches a maximum power of 48.03 MW between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Because a combined cycle or rankine unit is continuously turned on and o,
this solution presents the same problems previously analysed.
For this reason it could be preferable to install BESSs in order to have a
maximum exploitation of the most economical plant (Gen_1 ), resulting in lower
emissions and generation costs, and in order to avoid a wrong operation of some
conventional units.
December 26
Analysing the day December 26, it is possible to observe in g. 7.13 that Gen_1
is on during the entire day and that all the other conventional power plants are
always kept o.
Even if it is a day characterized by low load demand, there are not problems of
overproduction, as in August 15, when renewable power plants are forced to work
Figure 7.14: Generation proles of conventional power plants - modied Scenario

2 - December 26
at their maximum value. The reason is that the output power of photovoltaic
is lower compared to that of summer days and consequently Gen_1, together
with renewable production units, is able to supply the load working always above
its allowed minimum value. It is clear that winter days with low load request
don't present particular problems in a scenario characterized by photovoltaic and
aeolian installed power respectively of 80 MW and 40 MW.
As already seen in chapter 1, each country is characterized by a dierent
distribution of renewables. For this reason a scenario with photovoltaic and
aeolian installed power equal to 60 MW for both the sources has been studied.
In g. 7.14 it is possible to observe that Gen_1 is always on and that it
works at its minimum allowed value (53.83 MW) between midnight and 8 a.m.
and between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Because load demand is low and wind production
is considerable, in the same time interval Gen_1 should decrease its production
under its allowed lower operating limit. The impossibility to achieve this working
condition for the generator causes an excess of energy, as shown in g. 7.15.
Dierently from low demand summer days, dump energy is mainly present during
the night and it is attributable to wind production and not to the solar one.
This problem has been solved through the installation of the following BESSs:
Figure 7.15: Overproduction - modied Scenario 2 - December 26
• a system installed at node 28 (BESS_28 ) with 15 MWh and 4 MW;
• a system installed at node 4 (BESS_4 ) with 30 MWh and 7 MW;
• a system installed at node 6 (BESS_6 ) with 13 MWh and 4 MW.
As shown in g. 7.16, the dierent sizes of the systems have been chosen in order
to have their maximum exploitation.
Observing the SOC prole, it is possible to state that batteries charge dur-
ing the time in which there is dump energy. This proves that BESSs allow to
completely exploit wind plants storing energy in excess when it is necessary and
generating when renewables contribution is not relevant. The maximum charg-
ing/discharging power of the batteries is equal to 3.55 MW for BESS_28, 6.10
MW for BESS_4 and 3.55 MW for BESS_6. The fact that BESSs never reach
their maximum power during charge and discharge phases conrms that they
make available a reserve of power (for a total of 1.8 MW) useful in case of contin-
gencies. Moreover it is possible to observe that when the overproduction reaches
its maximum value (11.63 MW) between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., BESSs absorb a
power of only 10.8 MW. In reality, when batteries are considered, the maximum
excess of generating power is lower than 11.63 MW because the reserve of Gen_1
(a) SOC
Figure 7.16: BESSs characteristics - modied Scenario 2 - December 26

Table 7.7: Data of renewable generators - Scenario 3
Name Bus Max/Min LCOE

power [MW] [e/MWh]
Wind_1 1 90/0 70
Wind_2 2 80/0 74
Wind_3 3 30/0 85
is restored to the mandatory value of 1.5% so that the unit can decrease its
production up to 53 MW. So the charge power is sucient to balance the system.
Analysing the results of simulations performed in section 7.3.2, it is clear that

most of the conventional generators are not exploited. Considering also that
power plants based on unpredictable renewable sources are characterized by an
increasing trend of installed power, it is possible to imagine a future network in
which renewables represent the majority of the generation.
The IEEE 30 bus test system has been modied in order to represent this
hypothetical future scenario. Gen_1, Gen_2 and Gen_13 have been substituted
by renewables, while the remaining conventional power plants, that have been
considered as turbogas units, present for the sake of simplicity the same data
listed in table 7.1 for a total installed power of 115 MW.
Data of renewable generators, which represent approximately 80% of the in-
stallations, are listed in table 7.7. The total installed power of wind and solar
plants is respectively of 200 MW (45.4% of renewables) and 240 MW (54.6% of
renewables). Photovoltaic plants with a maximum power of 10 MW are installed
on the medium voltage side in accordance with CEI 0-16 (see table 6.1), while all
the others are connected to high voltage buses. It has been chosen that the LCOE
of renewables is lower in this scenario compared to that of previous simulations
Table 7.8: Lower and upper reserves distribution - Scenario 3
Generator Mandatory Additional Total

name provision [MW] provision [MW] provision [MW]
Gen_5 0.750 2.875 3.625
Gen_8 0.525 2.005 2.530
Gen_11 0.450 1.720 2.170
Total 1.725 6.600 8.325
Figure 7.17: Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 3 - July

26
because it has been assumed that in the future the initial investment will be less
expensive. In these studies it has been chosen to not force renewables to work at
their maximum available power.
In the case without BESSs, the reserve provision for conventional power plants
is distributed as shown in table 7.8. Each generating unit has to guarantee the
sum of the mandatory and additional provisions in order to cover the 1.5% reserve
that renewable plants should have provided (6.6 MW).
Even though this is a future scenario, it has been chosen to maintain the load
proles used in previous simulations. This is due to the fact that there is not any
sure forecast because too much variables have to be considered.
Figure 7.18: Underproduction - Scenario 3 - July 26
Analysing the day July 26, it is possible to observe in g. 7.17 that conventional
power plants are not always on and that they operate at their maximum allowed
level between midnight and 8 a.m. and between 7 p.m. and midnight. Because in
these time intervals the contribution of renewable plants is low and the demand is
relatively high, all the installed units are not able to supply the load. As shown in
g. 7.18, it results in a lack of production (unserved energy) which is essentially
caused by photovoltaic plants.
In g. 7.19 only some solar generators are represented. It is possible to observe
that Photovoltaic_21, which has a behaviour similar to all the 10 MW units, and
Photovoltaic_8 are not completely exploited during the central hours of the day
because not all their total available power is necessary at that time. During the
same period the load is mainly supplied by wind power plants, that work at their
maximum, together with Photovoltaic_7, Photovoltaic_28 and Photovoltaic_13.
This last unit generates a maximum power of 65 MW, even if it could produce
a maximum of 80 MW. This is due to the fact that a congestion problem occurs
at Transf_12-13, which connects the bus 13 to the high voltage network with a
rated power of 65 MVA.
Figure 7.19: Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants - Scenario 3 -

July 26
Figure 7.20: Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants with BESSs -
Scenario 3 - July 26
Because the unserved energy could bring to an unbalance between load and
generation that would cause a frequency decrease, a technical solution that allow
to avoid this problem has been found. The installation of electrochemical devices,
as shown in g. 7.20, optimizes the generation of all photovoltaic plants during
the high radiation hours so that their energy can be used to cover the lack of
generation during the night. Moreover, observing that Photovoltaic_13 generates
a maximum power of 80 MW, it is possible to state that the presence of storage
systems also allows to solve the congestion problem of Transf_12-13.
In particular the following BESSs have been installed:
• a system at node 13 (BESS_13 ) with 67 MWh and 15 MW;
• a system at node 6 (BESS_6 ) with 115 MWh and 30 MW.
Observing the SOC prole in g. 7.21, it is possible to state that batteries
charge approximately between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., that is when solar production
can give a contribution to the generation. Dierently from the previous simu-
lations, batteries can't be totally discharged at midnight because they have to
provide a power needed to eliminate the unserved energy during the night. For
this reason it has been chosen to simulate three identical days so that an initial
SOC can be obtained. The maximum charging/discharging power of the batter-
ies is equal to 15 MW for BESS_13, 26.7 MW for BESS_4 and BESS_6. The
fact that BESSs at bus 4 and 6 never reach their maximum power during charge
and discharge phases, dierently from that at bus 13, conrms that they make
available a reserve of power (for a total of 6.6 MW) useful in case of contingencies.
When the underproduction reaches its maximum value (55.82 MW) between
9 p.m. and 10 p.m., BESSs generate a total power of 49.42 MW. This dierence
is due to the fact that when storages are considered, the maximum defeat of
generating power is lower than 55.82 MW because the reserve of turbogas plants
are restored to the mandatory value of 1.5% and the units can slightly increase
their production. Therefore the charge power is sucient to completely balance
the system. Moreover BESS_13 is also used to solve the congestion problem
because it allows to store the energy that cannot be transferred to the grid (60.08
MWh) when the transformer is completely loaded.
(a) SOC
Figure 7.21: BESSs characteristics - Scenario 3 - July 26

Figure 7.22: Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 3 - Jan-

uary 25
Figure 7.23: Underproduction - Scenario 3 - January 25

A similar situation happens on January 25 when, due to the insucient contri-

bution of photovoltaic plants, an energy unbalance between generation and load
occurs. In particular even if all the conventional units work at their maximum
allowed level between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., as shown in g. 7.22, it is not possible to
cover the entire demand. As represented in g. 7.23, this small underproduction
(1.64 MW) veries in the same time interval and it can be eliminated thanks to
a storage system.
In fact a small BESS can be used in order to provide the additional reserve of
6.6 MW in substitution to conventional power plants, that can increase in this way
their output power. Because Photovoltaic_13 is not able to reach its maximum
power due to the low solar radiation, there is not any congestion problem for
Transf_12-13.
A dierent approach for these high load demand days could consist in the
installation of bigger storage systems that would allow to maximize the produc-
tion from renewables in order to reduce the generation from thermal units. On
July 26 this wouldn't allow to turn o any conventional power plant because the
remaining available energy from renewables is approximately 90 MWh, while on
January 25 it would allow to turn o Gen_11 and to reduce the contribution of
Gen_8 thanks to a remaining available energy approximately of 140 MWh.
August 15
Analysing the day August 15, it is possible to observe in g. 7.24 that Gen_5
and Gen_8, dierently from Gen_11 which is always kept o, are turned on or
o depending on the considered time intervals.
In particular between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. the contribution of renewables is
sucient to cover the low load request with the consequence that turbogas gen-
erators are not necessary. In the same time period wind is the most exploited
source while photovoltaic plants, as shown in g. 7.25, have low production al-
though solar radiation in August days is high. All 10 MW units that are not
shown in gure are characterized by a generation prole similar to that of Photo-
voltaic_21. Photovoltaic_13 generates a maximum power of 65 MW, even if it
could produce a maximum of 79.04 MW. This is due to the fact that a congestion
problem occurs at Transf_12-13, which connects the bus 13 to the high voltage
network with a rated power of 65 MVA.
Figure 7.24: Generation proles of conventional power plants - Scenario 3 - Au-

gust 15
Figure 7.25: Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants - Scenario 3 -

August 15
Figure 7.26: Generation proles of some photovoltaic power plants with BESSs -
Scenario 3 - August 15
Instead, when solar radiation becomes very low, conventional units are essen-
tial to solve the absence of photovoltaic generation in the load supply.
The installation of electrochemical devices, as shown in g. 7.26, increases the
generation of photovoltaic plants during the high radiation hours so that their
energy can be used to turn o Gen_8. Moreover, observing that Photovoltaic_13
generates a maximum power of 79.04 MW, it is possible to state that the presence
of storage systems also allows to solve the congestion problem of Transf_12-13.
In particular the following BESSs have been installed:
Observing the SOC prole in g. 7.27, it is possible to state that BESS_4 charges
between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., while BESS_13 stores energy between 11 a.m. and
4 p.m. As in case of July 26, batteries can't be totally discharged at midnight
because they have to provide a power needed to turn o the conventional power
plant in the rst hours of the day. For this reason it has been chosen to simulate
three identical days so that an initial SOC can be obtained. The maximum
charging/discharging power of the batteries is equal to 15 MW for BESS_13 and
(a) SOC
Figure 7.27: BESSs characteristics A - Scenario 3 - August 15

(a) SOC
Figure 7.28: BESSs characteristics B - Scenario 3 - August 15

18.69 MW for BESS_4. The fact that the storage system at bus 4 never reaches
its maximum power during charge and discharge phases, dierently from that at
bus 13, conrms that it makes available a reserve of power (6.6 MW) useful in
case of contingencies. Moreover BESS_13 is also used to solve the congestion
problem because it allows to store the energy that cannot be transferred to the
grid (40.76 MWh) when the transformer is completely loaded.
By installing bigger storage systems it would be possible to further improve the
contribution of photovoltaic power plants. As a consequence, if all the renewables
worked at their maximum, an additional energy of approximately 1100 MWh
could be stored. Only 429 MWh are sucient to turn o Gen_5. In particular the
following BESSs have been installed in order to completely turn o all turbogas
units:
Their SOC proles and their charge/discharge power are shown in g. 7.28.
December 26
December 26, similarly to August 15, is a day characterized by a low demand
prole. In g. 7.29 it is possible to observe that the high availability of wind
allows to supply the load for the majority of the time only through aeolian power
plants. In particular Wind_1 and Wind_2 are always kept on, while Wind_3
is turned on only between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. Regarding conventional power
plants, between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. it is necessary to turn on Gen_5 that works
at its minimum allowed level (18.62 MW). Solar generators, that would give a
limited contribution in winter days, are not necessary to meet the load request
in the daylight hours.
During high demand hours wind power plants are not able to supply the load
by themselves and photovoltaic units don't contribute to the generation because
solar radiation is null at that time interval. This is the reason why Gen_5 has to
operate for two consecutive hours. If all the wind power plants worked at their
maximum, Gen_5 should provide a power of 7.91 MW (between 7 p.m. and 8
Figure 7.29: Generation proles of wind and conventional plants - Scenario 3 -

December 26
Figure 7.30: Generation proles of wind and conventional plants with a BESS -
Scenario 3 - December 26
(a) SOC
Figure 7.31: BESS characteristics - Scenario 3 - December 26

p.m.) and 11.39 MW (between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.). The impossibility to achieve
this working condition leads to a reduction of generation for Wind_3 and to an
increase of production for Gen_5 up to 18.62 MW.
As shown in g. 7.30, the installation of a BESS at bus 6 (BESS_6 ) with
22 MWh and 19 MW increases the generation of wind power plants so that
their energy can be used to turn oGen_5. In particular Wind_2 provides the
additional power necessary to charge the battery, while Wind_3 works near to
its maximum limit between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Observing the SOC prole in g. 7.31, it is possible to state that BESS_6
charges during the morning and the afternoon, and that it discharges between
7 p.m. and 9 p.m in order to substitute Gen_5. The maximum charging and
discharging power of batteries is respectively equal to 6.6 MW and 11.4 MW. The
fact that the storage system never reaches its maximum power during charge and
discharge phases conrms that it makes available a reserve of power (6.6 MW)
useful in case of contingencies.
The use of moderate storage system in winter days with low demand allows
to completely turn o all the conventional generators and to supply the network
only through energy from renewable sources.
7.3.4 Additional considerations
It has been veried that, regarding Scenario 2, all the problems can be solved
by installing the same BESSs used on August 15 (for a total of 84 MWh and 22
MW). In Scenario 3, the installation of the same BESSs used on July 26 (for a
total of 297 MWh and 74 MW) is sucient to solve all the problems regarding the
transformer overload, the lack of production and to reduce the operation of some
turbogas plants. Moreover the installation of BESSs with a total capacity and
power respectively of 579 MWh and 105 MW allow to turn o the conventional
generators during all low demand days and to solve all the problems already
mentioned.
It is evident that storage systems with high capacity and power could be
not convenient considering costs of 2015. In particular the average price of Li-
ion batteries is 370 e/kWh, with a minimum value of 270 e/kWh for some big
producers [57]. A system constituted by 579 MWh of batteries would cost more
than 214 million euros. The technology progression and the mass production
could lead to a reduction of prices, allowing the feasibility of this solution. In

fact between 2007 and 2014 the average prices had a reduction of 14% per year
and a mean value of 207 e/kWh is expected within 2018. Supposing in a far
future an average price of Li-ion batteries equal to 100 e/kWh, the same system
would cost approximately 58 million euros, that is a more reasonable value.
On the one hand the installation of BESSs at powerful high voltage nodes
(as bus 4 and 6) would allow to optimize the power ow; on the other hand
it would be very expensive because a dedicated transformer would be required
in order to connect the electronic converters to the lines. In the case in which
Gen_11 and Gen_13 are always kept o, a cheaper solution could consist in the
connection of the system to the medium voltage side at bus 11 or 13, through
Transf_9-11 or Transf_12-13. In this way generators would be substituted by
BESSs, that would recover the same structure reducing installation costs. In this
new conguration the storage systems would have the same behaviour of that
installed at the primary side of the transformers. For instance, considering the
day July 26 in Scenario 2, BESS_6 could be installed at bus 11 instead of bus 6
because Gen_11 is not used for the entire day.
The power of the analysed BESSs refers to the active power that batteries
can supply. Because in the Italian network, according to CEI standards, most of
the systems interfaced to the grid with static converters must provide ancillary
services, the apparent power of converters should be higher than the active power
of batteries. In this way when the system absorbs or generates a reactive power to
carry out the local voltage regulation, it is possible to exchange an active power
equal to the rated one of the batteries.
The generation proles of wind and solar power plants have been chosen in
function of the solar radiation and wind speed data, that are hourly mean values
computed for each month. The fact that these are average values implies that
for each day of the month it is possible to have solar radiation and wind speed
data higher or lower than the ones used as reference. The consequence is that
the output power of aeolian and photovoltaic plants can be higher or lower than
that considered in the simulations. It results in a dierent behaviour of storage
systems that need to be congured with other sizes. For instance the decrease
of renewables contribution would allow to reduce the size of BESSs when dump
energy occurs; instead in presence of unserved energy, bigger battery systems
could be required because the lack of production could increase. Moreover in

the cases in which batteries are used to substitute some thermal power plants,
larger sizes could be necessary to cover the possible increase of production of that
conventional units.
Conclusions
In this thesis the role that BESSs can have in an electric network characterized
by an increasing penetration of renewable sources has been treated.
It is worth noticing that Li-ion and NaS batteries, as demonstrated by the
Italian pilot projects and by small-scale applications, are the most suitable tech-
nologies for the provision of ancillary services needed to support renewable energy
integration. In addition, it is possible to observe that most of the commercialized
BESSs are based on these electrochemical structures.
Simulations, that are based on the IEEE-30 bus test network, highlight some
problems related to the introduction of unpredictable renewable sources and the
possible solutions through the installation of BESSs.
In scenario 1, the original test network has been used to represent a situation
similar to that of Italy in the past. Results show that when only conventional
power plants are installed, the presence of electrochemical storages is not use-
ful both in low and high demand days. In particular during days with low load
request, the most economical combined cycle plants can supply the load by them-
selves. Because no dispatching problems arise and no inconvenient operation of
the plants occur, BESSs are not necessary to improve the operation of the net-
work. On the contrary, during days characterized by high load request some
combined cycle plants turn on only for few hours. In this case the installation
of BESSs with very high capacity is not convenient. The reasons are that in
the past such systems would have been too much expensive and that, depending
on the load demand, the energy exchanged with batteries could have been not
sucient to turn o the plants that worked in an inconvenient way.
In scenario 2, the original IEEE system has been modied in order to model
an electric network similar to the Italian one in 2013 in terms of installed power,
load and generation proles. In addition to the conventional units, solar and wind
182 Conclusions
generators have been introduced so that 20% of the total installed power is given
by unpredictable renewable sources. Results show that during days with low
load request there are overproduction problems due to the excess of generation
by renewable sources. Instead during days characterized by a high demand some
combined cycle power plants are continuously turned on and o. Both issues are
emphasised by the fact that solar and wind generating units have been forced
to work at their maximum in order to avoid the loss of green energy. In a real
situation the problems would be slightly lower because renewables would vary
their output power not only in function of their availability, but also in relation
to the load demand. It has been veried that BESSs allow to turn o the plants
that work in an improper way and to have a maximum exploitation of clean
energy without overproduction problems. Thanks to batteries with reasonable
sizes (9% of the maximum required power and approximately 2% of the daily
energy absorbed during high demand days), this solution can be economically
convenient, even if not essential.
In scenario 3, the test system has been modied in order to represents a

hypothetical future electric network in which the penetration of unpredictable
renewable sources is very high (80% of the total installed power). Results show
that a huge installation of distributed generators without any preventive action
would be unacceptable. In particular, during days with low load request turbo-
gas plants are also necessary to cover the demand. This is essentially related to
the fact that the availability of renewable sources is not controllable, with the
consequence that their output power doesn't follow the load prole. This could
be considered as a problem in terms of green energy loss and high generation
costs for turbogas units. Instead during days characterized by a high demand,
underproduction problems occur when the production from renewable and tur-
bogas units is not sucient. As in low demand days, this issue is linked to the
uncontrollable availability of renewable sources. Moreover the high presence of
distributed generators could lead to the overload of lines and transformers. The
installation of BESSs (32% of the maximum required power and approximately
6% of the daily energy absorbed during high demand days) allow to optimize the
production from renewable sources and to avoid congestion and underproduction
problems. Moreover larger size batteries (45% of the maximum required power
and approximately 12% of the daily energy absorbed during high demand days)
Conclusions 183
could be used to completely turn o conventional generators during low demand

days, allowing in this way to supply the network only through green energy. It is
evident that the role of BESSs would be essential in a grid with high penetration
of renewables.
In all scenarios BESSs provide renewables reserves of power in substitution to
conventional units, allowing to carry out a frequency regulation through the time
shift of the renewables production. In addition these systems could also perform
other ancillary services such as local voltage regulation.
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POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Scuola di Ingegneria Industriale e dell'Informazione

Corso di laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria Elettrica

ANCILLARY SERVICES PROVIDED BY BESS IN A

Relatore: Prof. Morris BRENNA

Tesi di Laurea di:

Michele AMODIO Matr. 816531

Marco POLENGHI Matr. 816604

Anno Accademico 2014-2015

Ci teniamo a esprimere la nostra sincera gratitudine verso i nostri familiari che

3 Energy storage systems 69

4 Future potential scenarios for ESS 79

5 Electrochemical storage systems 89

6 Battery energy storage systems 115

7 Modelling of the network and simulations 139

1.1 Share of generation in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.1 Example of electrical network for frequency regulation . . . . . . . 49

2.9 System electrical frequency in Hz with the increase of the load . . 66

3.1 PHS system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

4.1 Electric connections between Europe and Africa . . . . . . . . . . 80

5.1 Structure of a module and of a battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

6.1 Illustration of BESS structure composed by many power blocks . 117

6.9 Capability curve of BESS in LV network with inverter power higher

7.1 Single line diagram of the IEEE 30 bus network . . . . . . . . . . 141

7.21 BESSs characteristics - Scenario 3 - July 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

1.1 Energy exchanges with neighbouring countries . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5.1 Specications of the GS Yuasa Energy Storage Battery Module

7.1 Conventional generators data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

7.6 Lower and upper reserves distribution - Scenario 2 . . . . . . . . . 151

Per rispettare i traguardi imposti dai governi riguardo la penetrazione di fonti

quando viene considerata una penetrazione di energie alternative nella stessa

Parole chiave: sistemi di accumulo, batterie, servizi ancillari, fonti rinnovabili

Several European countries have programmed to reduce traditional thermal sys-

Positive results are also obtained simulating a hypothetical future situation in

Key words: storage systems, batteries, ancillary services, renewable sources

Chapter 5 deals with electrochemical storage systems. A detailed description

Overview of European electric

In this chapter the characteristics of the electric networks of some countries in

1.1 The Italian electric network

• gross electricity production. It is the sum of the energy measured at the

Table 1.1: Energy exchanges with neighbouring countries

Imported energy [GWh] Exported energy [GWh]

• net electricity production. It is the dierence between gross electricity pro-

• nal energy consumption. It is the dierence between net electricity pro-

Figure 1.1: Share of generation in Italy

1.1.2 Topologies of Italian power plants

• peninsular, which extends in the Mediterranean Sea towards north west -

Thermoelectric power plants

• thermonuclear power plant. It uses a nuclear reactor to generate steam that

• traditional thermoelectric power plant. It is also called Rankine cycle and it

• combined cycle power plant. It is constituted by a gas turbine and a wa-

• turbogas power plant. It is constituted by a compressor, a burner and a

Figure 1.2: Development of the thermal installed capacity

Hydroelectric power plants

Figure 1.3: Development of the hydroelectric installed capacity

• mini hydro, with a power between 100 kW and 1 MW;

• micro hydro, with a power between 5 kW and 100 kW;

• pico hydro, with a power lower than 5 kW.

• photovoltaic. It consists in the direct conversion of light into electricity

• wind. Wind turbine consists of a propeller connected around a rotor that

• geothermal. It consists in the exploitation of thermal energy, in the form of

• bioenergy. The organic waste of vegetable or animal can be treated to obtain

Hydroelectric is also a renewable source but it has been already analysed

5.1 Specications of the GS Yuasa Energy Storage Battery Module

• net electricity production. It is the dierence between gross electricity pro-

• nal energy consumption. It is the dierence between net electricity pro-

Germany has signicant interconnection capacity with neighbouring EU mem-

2.1 Classication of ancillary services

• reconguration of the electric network;

• the real situation is dierent from the predicted one;

• the eciency of power system operation is increased, in terms of minimiza-

• the controllability of the voltage ancillary service is simplied.

Figure 2.4: SVC systems and LC harmonics lter

• device seen as "voltage generator". As shown in g. 2.5 it consists in an