2021 IEEE Green Technologies Conference (GreenTech)
A Voltage Sensitivity Framework for Optimal
Allocation of Battery Energy Storage Systems
Hassan I. Alhammad1,* , Mustafa F. Alsada1 , Khalid A. Khan1 , and Muhammad Khalid1,2
1
Electrical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
2
K.A. CARE Energy Research and Innovation Center, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
g202001620@kfupm.edu.sa*, g201249600@kfupm.edu.sa, g201604320@kfupm.edu.sa, mkhalid@kfupm.edu.sa
Abstract—Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) play a piv-
otal role to mitigate the power quality challenges associated with
the evolution of the modern of distribution network. Nevertheless,
optimal allocation of BESS is pertinent to appropriately utilize
2021 IEEE Green Technologies Conference (GreenTech) | 978-1-7281-9139-3/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/GREENTECH48523.2021.00093
and maintain their techno-economic significance. This paper
presents a framework based on voltage sensitivity approach to
establish an optimal BESS allocation strategy and subsequently,
effectively extract their support towards appropriate energy
utilization. The proposed methodology is validated on an IEEE 8
bus distribution network. The results obtained demonstrates an
improved voltage profile with the identified BESS allocation and
additionally lower overall system line losses.
Index Terms—Battery energy storage systems, distribution net-
work, load flow analysis, optimal storage allocation, power system
optimization, voltage regulation, voltage sensitivity analysis
I. I NTRODUCTION
The incremental load requirement combined with the inte-
gration of alternative renewable energy sources in a distribu-
tion network increases the potential instabilities of the grid as
most of the renewable technologies heavily depend on weather
conditions, which may change considerably in short interval
of time. This presents an integration challenge as variability
in dispatchable power is produced, especially at high level of
penetration that inadvertently effects different aspects associ-
ated with the operation of the distribution network [1]–[4].
Integration of battery energy storage system (BESS) into
a power distribution network is one of best solution to
improve the reliability and performance of power systems.
BESSs are for charging/discharging operation during network
excess/deficient power requirements. Moreover, many of re-
newable energy sources integration problems can be mitigated
with the integration of BESS [5]–[7]. Nevertheless, integrating
BESS at sub-optimal places causes additional problems such
as increment in system loss and voltage congestion. Therefore,
BESS placement and operation in a power network actively
effects system power quality [8].
Presently, BESS are widely used in distributed generation
systems. Specifically, wide scale BESS are used for load
levelling, frequency regulation, peak shaving, spinning reserve,
improvement of the power quality and smoothing the output of
renewable energy sources [9]–[12]. All of these applications
increase the reliability and stability of the grid. Deep cycle
batteries with energy capacity ranging from 17 to 40 MWh
2166-5478/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/GreenTech48523.2021.00093
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and efficiencies of about 70–80% are mostly used in power
system applications [13], [14].
The idea of optimal placement of distributed generation as
well as shunt capacitors serves as a corner stone for numerous
methods for optimal placement of BESS in a power distribu-
tion network [15]–[17]. Allocating BESS in the distribution
power system is an optimal aspect to harvest the most of its
benefits. In order to reach an optimal placement of BESS in
a distribution power system, BESS should be allocated such
that it can optimally reduce most of the system losses without
the constraints and the power quality of the distribution
network. Additionally, plenty of studies recommended that the
capabilities of BESS is improved by increasing its capacity.
Nonetheless, no clear recommendation has been made about
the optimal placement of BESS [18], [19].
Numerous studies in the area of optimal placement of BESS
have been successfully presented and concluded. In [20], the
allocation of BESS is achieved by using non-radial distri-
bution system for voltage regulation. Likewise, a technique
established on classification of distribution main transformer
(MTr) is introduced in [21], to identify the optimal BESS
allocation in a grid. In [22], presents a methodology to reduce
the feeder losses based on optimal BESS placement. The key
factor limiting the applicability of these methods is that they
are not suitable for complex distribution system. However,
others are tested on five and 14 bus system, which illustrates
their suitability for complex distribution system.
Accordingly, based on network sensitivity analysis, a greedy
algorithm framework is developed in that suggests the place-
ment of BESS in a large-scale applications is proposed in [23].
In [24], an expression of network losses is demonstrated by the
means of quadratic function, a methodology combined with
Mixed Integer Quadratic Programming to identify possible
BESS optimal management strategies capable to reduce losses
in power. Furthermore, a loss sensitivity based algorithm is
suggested in [25], for optimal allocation of the BESS in
the distribution system in order to decrease system losses.
In similar terms, the objective of this paper is to determine
and establish an optimal placement of BESS in a distribution
network based on improved voltage profile and reduction of
system line losses using voltage sensitivity approach.
The remainder of this paper is outlined as follows. The
problem formulation and the proposed analytical approach
558
 Fig. 1: Modified IEEE 8 bus distribution network.

for selection of an optimal BESS location is presented in TABLE I. Load profile for the case studies considered in this
Section II and Section III, respectively. Section IV presents study.
the results and discussion corresponding to the computational Case Bus 2 Load Bus 3 Load Bus 4 Load Bus 5 Load
analysis performed on a test distribution network, followed by 1 43.001 67.804 78.723 86.726
2 40.776 48.104 77.632 66.874
conclusion in Section V. 3 39.147 54.445 76.847 63.521
4 35.333 58.158 63.889 76.149
II. P ROBLEM F ORMULATION 5 27.584 52.052 77.874 67.852
6 29.007 65.784 60.044 53.1
An IEEE 8-bus power distribution system is used in this 7 40.334 59.222 68.934 86.028
paper as shown in Fig. 1, with four PQ buses. The system 8 44.528 65.159 67.748 77.345
9 36.542 49.842 51.117 79.394
voltage level is 110kV and it consists of two 13.8 kV gen-
10 44.721 72.111 80.623 86.023
erators with a capacity of 127.5 MW at 85% power factor.
An operation constraint in a power distribution system is that
the voltage of all buses should be between 97% to 105%, that
is, 106.7 kV to 115.5 kV. Based on initial analysis, four load comparison to the buses that are located closer upstream to the
buses (PQ buses) encounter high load variation, which leads to supply with similar load variations. Conclusively, implicating
instability on those buses caused by significant voltage drops. a comparatively higher sensitivity of these downstream buses
The key objective is to stabilize the voltage profile of the in the power network.
power distribution network by integrating a BESS. Therefore,
a voltage sensitivity framework is formulated and proposed
for optimal BESS allocation to maintain system voltage under III. P ROPOSED M ETHODOLOGY
permissible limit and additionally reduce the system losses.
The voltage sensitivity approach assesses the voltage condition
of the system by evaluating the impact of loads variation on A voltage sensitivity framework model is developed for
the voltage profile of each bus. This approach indicates that optimal BESS allocation in a power network using Newton-
the voltage profile of a bus will be primarily effected by its Raphson load flow analysis. An evaluative approach is pre-
local loading conditions as well as its distance from the power sented to demonstrate the sensitivity profile of the PQ buses.
supply. Based on the relationship of the active (Pi ) and reactive (Qi )
In other words, buses situated farther downstream of the power with the admittance and voltage magnitudes, and the
power network in combination with high load variations during respective phase angles of the buses in a power network, the
certain time will encounter significant voltage variation in Newton-Raphson load flow is computed as:

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 TABLE II. Initial load flow simulation results for 10 cases of load profile without BESS integration.
Case Bus 2 Bus 3 Bus 4 Bus 5
V P Q V P Q V P Q V P Q
1 99.8 28.9 17.9 97.76 83.31 52.62 95.4 74.78 42.73 96.64 121.5 73.11
2 100.1 34.7 21.5 98.76 64.48 40.62 96.6 66.51 38 97.74 99.24 59.46
3 100.1 33.3 20.6 98.63 68.02 42.72 96.7 65.84 37.62 97.8 97.55 58.45
4 100.1 30.1 18.6 98.61 68.84 43.21 96.9 54.78 31.30 97.74 99.37 59.63
5 100.3 23.5 14.6 98.73 67.34 42.39 96.6 66.72 38.12 97.76 100.7 60.38
6 100.4 24.7 15.3 98.81 68.83 42.88 97.6 51.63 29.50 98.53 82.59 49.46
7 99.9 34.3 21.2 98.32 72.38 45.60 96.3 58.98 33.70 97.24 109.1 65.51
8 99.9 37.8 23.4 98.23 74.75 46.89 96.5 58 33.14 97.44 103.5 62.12
9 100.3 31.1 19.3 99.04 60.25 37.84 97.4 43.93 25.10 98.07 92.94 55.83
10 99.6 39.9 19.9 97.54 82.52 55.36 95.3 68.72 39.27 96.51 114.9 74.93

Upon determining the voltage magnitude and phase angle

N
X variations by solving the formulated jacobian matrix, the new
Pi = |Vi Vj Yij | cos (θij + δj − δi ) (1)
voltages (Vik ), phase angles (δik ) of the buses and the voltage
j=1 drop (Vd ) is determined based on the following:
j 6= i
Vik = Vi + ∆V i (5)
N
X
Qi = − |Vi Vj Yij | sin (θij + δj − δi ) (2)
δik = δi + ∆δ i (6)
j=1
j 6= i
     Vd = I (Rcos +Xsin ) L (7)
∆P j1 j2 ∆δ
= (3) where, I is the line current; R is the line resistance; θ is
∆Q j3 j4 ∆V
the phase angle of the load; X is the line reactance; L is the
Here, the jacobian components (j1 ,j2 , j3 and j4 ) describe length of the line.
the voltage sensitivity in terms of voltage phase angle and Finally, based the computed voltage sensitivities for all
voltage magnitude respective to each bus. Accordingly, the buses, the most sensitive bus is identified as the optimal
variation in voltage phase angle and voltage magnitude with placement for the BESS. Without committing voltage or load
respect to injected active and reactive power is obtained by violation, the BESS is to stabilize the voltage on those PQ
solving the of the jacobian matrix (4). Hence, the jacobian buses by discharging to the grid during peak hours, which help
representation is used for determination of the voltage sensi- reduce the power losses. Similarly, when load demand is low,
tivity profiles of the buses in the power distribution network. the BESS charges. The load flow analysis is re-conducted to
     confirm that the select bus is the optimal solution that provide
∆δ U1 U2 ∆P voltage stability for the whole system.
= (4)
∆V U3 U4 ∆Q
 ∂δ ∂δ 2
IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
∂δ 2

∂P 2
2
∂P 3
. . . ∂P
 .
n The status of the system voltage during the load flow
. .. ..

U1 =  . . ... .

 analysis is verified using ANSI C84.1-2006. In this study, 10
∂δ n ∂δ n ∂δ n load profiles cases for each PQ bus are considered and the
∂P 2 ∂P 3
. . . ∂P n
difference between the highest and lowest load points of each
 ∂δ2 ∂δ 2 ∂δ 2
. . . ∂Q
 bus is approximately 35% as depicted in Table I. The load
∂Q2 ∂Q3 n
 . .. profile of the load buses are initially set to case 10 considering
. ..

U2 =  . . ... .

 worst load case scenario of the system.
∂δ n ∂δ n ∂δ n
. . . ∂Q It is observed that that bus 4 and bus 5 are suffering from
∂Q2 ∂Q3 n
significant voltage drop. This result is further confirmed based
∂V 2 on the load flow analysis of the 10 load scenarios (Table II).
 ∂V ∂V 2

∂P 2
2
∂P 3
. . . ∂P n
 . .. .. Such voltage drops are attributed to the high loads on these
.

U3 =   . . ... .

 buses as well as their comparative farther distances from the
∂V n ∂V n ∂V n power sources, consequently resulting in power losses and
∂P 2 ∂P 3
. . . ∂P n
voltage drop across their feeding lines. Therefore, bus 4 and
 ∂V 2 ∂V 2 ∂V 2 
∂Q2 ∂Q3
. . . ∂Q bus 5 are the optimal locations for placing the BESS as they
n
 .
. .. ..
 are suffering from under voltage conditions in all cases.
U4 =   . . ... .

 In this study, the BESS allocated consists of Li-ion cells of
∂V n ∂V n ∂V n
∂Q ∂Q
. . . ∂Q 3.2 Vpc (open circuit per cell voltage) and 220 Ah nominal
2 3 n

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 TABLE III. Load flow simulation results (with BESS integrated) for 10 cases of load profile.
Bus 2 Bus 3 Bus 4 Bus 5
Case V P Q V P Q V P Q V P Q
1 100.5 38.5 19.27 99.03 67.73 39.89 98.4 67.92 38.81 99.08 104.1 60.39
2 100.9 36.6 18.30 99.91 51.25 29.58 99.29 67.21 38.41 99.94 86.72 49.72
3 100.9 35.2 17.57 99.75 55.49 32.17 99.29 66.53 38.02 99.99 85.18 48.81
4 100.9 31.7 15.86 99.75 55.63 32.33 99.47 55.36 31.63 99.93 86.85 50.06
5 101.1 24.8 12.39 99.87 54.13 31.37 99.28 67.42 38.53 99.96 88.24 50.65
6 101 26.1 13.03 99.62 56.21 35.1 99.55 52.04 29.74 100 69.83 37.24
7 100.7 36.3 18.04 99.49 59.2 34.6 98.97 59.61 55.96 99.47 96.65 55.96
8 100.6 38.9 19.97 99.39 61.57 36 99.11 58.61 33.49 99.65 90.98 52.54
9 101 32.8 16.4 100 46.96 27.93 99.81 44.35 25.34 100 80.26 45.37
10 100.3 40 20.03 98.69 69.37 44.32 98.03 69.45 39.69 98.74 102.5 65.33

TABLE IV. Voltage Drop and Line losses incurred with and without BESS integration.
Without BESS With BESS Integration
Line % V Drop kW Loss kVar Loss % V Drop kW Loss kVar Loss
Line 1-2 0.59 22.61 282.7 0.47 16.15 201.8
Line 1-3 2.68 342.3 4287.8 2.12 229.4 2874
Line 1-6 0.24 3.2 36.38 0.02 0.128 1.46
Line 3-4 2.19 89.17 1004 0.66 12.72 143.3
Line 4-5 1.17 122.3 1100.7 0.72 56 504
Line 5-6 3.46 826.1 7508.7 2.05 324.5 2949.1
Line 6-2 0.35 11.43 129.9 0.45 16.61 188.8

Fig. 2: Voltage vs. apparent power of bus 4 with optimal BESS Fig. 3: Voltage vs. apparent power of bus 5 with optimal BESS
placement. placement.

depicted in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. Furthermore, not only the voltage

capacity per cell that is put together to make 40 MWh with
state of charge (SoC) operating constraint between 20% and
80%. The BESS is sized to 40 MWh through trial and error
in order to compensate for the voltage drop and power losses
across the feeding lines to bus 4 and bus 5. The battery pack is
connected to the grid thorough an inverter with 90% efficiency.
The inverter is operating on voltage control mode. In this
mode, the inverter is injecting a constant amount of real power
and adjusting its reactive power output to regulate the voltage.
Based, on the results obtained in Table III integrating BESS
significantly improves the voltage profile of bus 4 and bus
5 during the load flow simulation. For example, the voltage
on bus 4 was 95.35% for the worst case prior integrating
the BESS. Concurrently, integrating the BESS improves the
voltage profile to 98.03%. Similarly, the voltage of bus 5 was
96.51% and it was improved to 98.74% after the integration as
profile of bus 4 and bus 5 are improved by the integration of
the BESS, but also the voltage profiles of all other buses are
improved as shown in Table III. Similarly, with the integration
and allocation of BESS at buses 4 and 5, the voltage drop
on the lines of the network as well as the lines losses are
observably enhanced and respectively improved as presented
in Table 4.
V. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, a voltage sensitivity analysis is presented
to establish an optimal allocation of battery energy storage
system in a distribution network. An IEEE - 8 bus system is
used to present this methodology. Based on the formulated
voltage sensitivity matrices and considering numerous load
profiles of the distribution network, the most sensitive buses
are identified and BESSs are respectively introduced. The

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