Impact of energy storage on load balancing

Wladyslaw Mielczarski
Institute of Electric Power Engineering
Lodz University of Technology, Poland
wladyslaw.mielczarski@p.lodz.pl

Abstract—The paper demonstrates the possible application of
Energy Storage to provide Ancillary Service to Transmission
System Operators (TSO) for load balancing. Energy Storage can
facilitate the coverage of fast load increase during the morning
ramp, when in 5-6 hours the generation has to cover over 30% of
the daily maximum. The optimization of Energy Storage
operation is synchronized with the start-ups of the conventional
power units and energy generated before the reaching the
minimum power level. Despite Energy Storage has excellent
technical features allowing for fast power regulation, its wider
implementation to correct daily load profile is limited due to
relatively small periods of energy storage, usually 4-6 hours. In
several hours after the morning ramp, the TSO faces the peak
demand so it has to start the conventional power units earlier
decreasing the scope of power demand that could be covered by
Energy Storage. The simulation is based on the data from the
Polish power system published by PSE. SA.
Index Terms – Energy Storage, Daily Load Profile, Ancillary
Service, Tertiary Reserve, Load Following Regulation,
Optimization of Energy Storage Operation.
of the varying demand regulation is on large power generating
units.
Fig. 1 provides a sketch of modern power systems in which
Local Balancing Areas (called also Clusters) are located in
distribution systems. A cluster is a group of users and
producers of electric energy being supported by energy storage
which aims at the compensation of power demand variations
or in shaping the load curve.
The other driving force for the development of Energy
Storage is the increasing number of renewable energy sources
which generation is not precisely predictable from a long
horizon perspective. The production of wind farms during the
low demand periods causes overproduction and some of the
RES installations will have to limit their production – energy
curtailment.

I. INTRODUCTION – NEED FOR BALANCING

For many years, power systems have been operating in the
stable environment when demand for power was relatively
easy to foreseen and the compensations of its changes could be
provided by large thermal power units. However; the
development of distributed generation, in particular renewable
energy sources and activity of energy customers (Prosumers)
have resulted in larger variations of power demand during
days, months and seasons.
Facing volatile demand for energy, network operators
insist on more flexible control in power systems that could be Fig. 1. Modern power systems with active distributed generation.
in a form of peak power units, usually supplied by gas or Currently, Network Codes allow network operators to
Energy Storage reacting quickly to demand variations. disconnect the RES installations, however due to the date they
The main task of the TSO is balancing of varying load with have not decided to introduce such severe measures despite
the adequate level of power reserve allowing for fulfilment of that in many hours the power system does not have the
technical standards of power system operation. Large power adequate reserve. The curtailment of the RES installation will
units G1, G2, Gi… are the only active units in the existing be introduced in new legal regulations proposed in Winter
(traditional) power system being able to adjust the energy Package. When introduced, the RES curtailment will result in
produced due to the varying demand for electrical energy. The the loss of renewable energy. To reduce the negative effect of
cross border connections have limited capacity so their share the curtailment, Energy Storage can be used to preserve such
in power balancing is limited. In the traditional power system, energy and to inject it back into the power system during peak
the distribution networks remain passive so the entire burden demand hours or as Ancillary Services by providing the
support to Tertiary Regulation.

‹,(((

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 II. POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT OF ENERGY STORAGE
The possible locations of Energy Storage are shown in Fig. 2.
Transmission System Operator
HV network
Meter
MV network 110kV HV Energy
Storage
Meter
30kV
Load or MV Energy
Gen. Storage
LV network 0,4kV
Meter
LV
Load
Energy
Storage
Fig.2. Possible use of Energy Storage in power networks [1], [2].
To analyse the impact of Energy storage on power systems,
three characteristic cases can been selected – Fig. 2:
• High Voltage energy storage as installations earning
from price arbitrage and providing Ancillary Services
directly to Transmission System Operators. Such a case
is called “before the meter” despite the Energy Storage
has the electric meter installed.
• Middle Voltage energy storage which is associated with
the RES installation; for an example wind farms. Such an
installation is called “behind the meter” as the network
operator does not have direct access to energy storage but
it can measure the total power profile as the combination
of energy production from wind farms and charge or
discharge of Energy Storage.
• Low Voltage energy storage installed in residential areas
uses as input electric power from solar photovoltaic (PV)
panels installed on the house roof. The primary role of
such energy storage is to collect the excess of energy
produced by Prosumers’ installations when the energy
cannot be injected into electric networks and the
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compensation as net metering is not possible. Energy
storage also allows for better optimization of energy
consumed by customers and the reduction of the payment
for the maximum power demanded from the power
220kV system.
The paper deals in the use of High Voltage Energy Storage
as the provider of Ancillary Services to the TSO. From three
categories of power reserves, the Tertiary Reserve was selected
for optimization – Fig. 2.
III. LOAD PROFILES IN POWER SYSTEMS
The electric energy consumption strictly depends on the
life-style of the society and the operation of the industry and
services. The daily electric power consumption varies in wide
ranges starting from low demand during the nights with the fast
increase during the morning hours to the first demand peak
called Morning Peak Demand, to some drops in afternoon
hours and reaching the maximum demand (Evening Peak
Demand) about 6pm to 8pm – Fig. 3.
Load profiles in January 2018
27000
25000
23000
Power demand in MW
21000
Monday 15
19000
Monday 22
17000 Monday 29
15000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hours of the Day
Fig. 3. Load profiles on Mondays in January 2018. Source. PSE.SA
Two daily demand peaks: morning and evening ones are
characteristic for winter demand profiles. During summers
only one morning demand peak takes place due to the
operation of Air Condition equipment in business hours.
IV. MORNING RAMPS OF LOAD PROFILES
All load profiles are characterized by the fast increase for
power demand during morning hours which in this analysis is
called “Morning Ramp”. Such increases are visible in
particular on Mondays – Fig.4. Usually, the ramp starts at 4am
and lasts to 10 am for about 5-6 hours. It is the period when
Ancillary Services provided by Energy Storage can be offered
to the TSO to improve the supply balancing. The attention
should be paid that the maximum or minimum of the morning
ramps are not identical with the maximum of the minimum of
power demand.
The characteristic parameters of each morning ramp are:
• Minimum of the power demand – the value from which
a ramp begins
• Time of the minimum – the hour and minute (to 15-
minute intervals) when a ramp starts
 • Maximum of the morning ramp – the value of power ramp about 12-15 power units are in uncontrolled start-up
demand when the morning ramp is ended modes – Fig. 6.
• Time of maximum - the hour and minute (to 15-minute Traditionally, the TSO was able to cover morning ramps
intervals) when a ramp ends but it requires the start-up about 10-15 power units in the same
• Scope of the ramp = difference between Maximum and time or support the balance by import. If many power units
Minimum start-up in the same time, they are on the uncontrolled part of
• Duration of the ramp = difference between the start time the operation characteristic, below minimal power, so it is
and the end time risky for the entire system stability to have too many
• Slop of the ramp = the ratio of Scope/Duration what uncontrollable power units.
indicates the demand increase in MW by hour or Start-up characteristic of thermal power units
minute. 300
Minima and maxima of load profiles on Mondays 250 Minimum
Control points power
Min Max 250
26000 217
24672 24548 Power generated

Power generated in MW
23491 200
24000
145
22000 150
Load profile in MW

20000
100
72.5
18000
16231 16151
15351 50
16000
Time in Minutes
14000
0

100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
220
230
240
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
12000

10000 Fig. 6. Start-up characteristic of thermal power units [4].

Monday 15 Monday 22 Monday 29
Taking into account the risk of system instability, Energy
Fig. 4. Minima and maxima of load profiles between 4am and 10am on
Mondays, Jan. 2018. Source: PSE SA. Storage seems to be proper solutions to reduce a number of
starting units by delivering the electric energy to power grids.
Analysing the maxima and minima of daily demand On the other hand the TSO cannot significantly limit the
profiles it can be seen that the extrema are similar in a given number of starting-up units as he will have to deliver electric
months for the characteristic days as for example, Monday in energy from conventional units when Energy Storage is
January – Fig. 4. discharged – after 4-6 hours.
Morning ramp as % of load maximum
34.0% The TSO faces two contradictory tasks [3]:
33.8%
33.8% • Limit a number of power units in start-up modes to
reduce amount of energy injected to the electric network
33.6%
in uncontrolled ways and deliver a part of energy from
33.4% 33.3% Energy Storage,
33.2% • Allow for the adequate number of starting-up
33.0% conventional units to have enough power generation
33.0%
capacity synchronized to cover maximum electricity
32.8%
demand when Energy Storage is discharged.
32.6%
VI. ANALYZED POWER SYSTEM
32.4% The optimization of Energy Storage aims at the minimization
Monday 15 Monday 22 Monday 29
of the total costs of Energy Storage operation including energy
Fig. 5. Morning ramp as % of load maximum. Source: PSA SA. charging and discharging modes with taking into account
V. STARTING-UP POWER UNITS Energy Storage constraints such as: (i) maximum power; (ii)
maximum energy stored and several network constraints
The morning ramps have similar values for the
resulting from the balance of electricity demand by
characteristic days and they count for about 33% of the conventional power units when Energy Storage is discharge.
maximum demand – Fig. 5. Assuming that the most of
intermediate and peak power units are rated to 230-240MW The system to be optimized consists of three main groups
with the minimum about 150MW the increase of energy supply of power generation units with rated power: (i) 1000MW (3
can be recalculated to the start-up of near 40 power generating units denoted G_1000), (ii) 360MW (12 units denoted G_360)
units within six hours. It indicates a need to start up about six and (iii) 225MW (50 units denoted G_225). The Energy
power units in every hour. Taking into account that the start- Storage used relates to P=100MW units with E=600MWh, and
up mode is about 2-3 hours, so in every minute of the morning efficiency of 80%. The energy storage installations embrace

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10, 15 and 20 power units, dependently on the scenario, system inflexibility as the starting up units do not allow for
allowing for the continuous regulation of the input and output output power regulation – Fig. 7.
power and energy within the given parameters.
The optimization function aims at the reduction of start-ups
The two power unit groups with rated power of 1000MW and shut-downs to reduce the costs of load balancing. The
and 360MW operate as base load without unnecessary shut- additional element of the target function relates to the deviation
downs, while the third group with rated power 225MW of operating points from optima located in the border between
operates as Intermediate and Peak Load, what means the Y0 reserve zones:
frequent start-ups for load balancing. ೠ೛ ௌ௧௔௥௧ ௌ௛௨௧೏೚ೢ೙
௎
‫ ܬ‬ൌ σଶସ
௧ୀଵሾሺ݇௧ ‫ܰ כ‬௧ ൅ ݇௧஽ ܰ௧ ሻ ൅ ൫݇௧஽௘௩ ‫כ‬
The main technical parameters of power generating units
หܲ௧ െ ܲ௢௣௧௜௠௔௟ ห൯ ൅ ݇௧ாௌ ȁ‫ܵܧ‬௧ ȁ (1)
are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Main parameters of the power units. where: ݇௧௎ – costs of startup; ݇௧஽ – costs of unit shutdown;
Parameter G_1000 G_360 G_225 ௌ௧௔௥௧̴௨௣
ܰ௧ number of start-ups; ܰ௧ௌ௛௨௧̴ௗ௢௪௡ number of shut-
Rated power (MW) 1000 360 225 ஽௘௩
Minimum power (MW) 600 260 150 downs; ݇௧ – penalty coefficient from the optimal trajectory;
Primary reserve P- (MW) 25 15 10 ܲ௧ – power generated; ܲ௢௣௧௜௠௔௟ – optimal power trajectory; ݇௧ாௌ
Secondary reserve S- (MW) 25 15 15 – cost of Energy Storage in period “t”;ȁ‫ܵܧ‬௧ ȁ – absolute value
Tertiary Reserve Y0 (MW) 300 40 25
Secondary Reserve S+ (MW) 25 15 15
of ES in period “t”.
Primary Reserve P+ (MW) 25 15 10 The main constraints in the optimization problem
formulated include:
The main aim of the unit dispatch is to balance demand for
electric power with the limited adjustment of large power units σே
௜ୀଵ ܲ௧
஺௩௔௜௟௔௕௟௘
ሺ݅ሻ ൅ ‫ܵܧ‬௧ ൒ ܲ௧஽௘௠௔௡ௗ ݂‫( ܶ ד ݐݕݎ݁ݒ݁ݎ݋‬2)
(1000MW and 360MW) using smaller power units (225MW)
for the load following and demand balancing by starts-up, σே ௧ ௧
௜ୀଵ ‫ܧ‬௜ ൅ ‫ܵܧ‬௧ ൌ ‫ܧ‬஽௘௠௔௡ௗ (3)
shut-down and Y0 control. Adequate levels of upper and lower ௗ௜௦௣௔௧௖௛ ்௘௖௛ಾ೔೙
σே
௜ୀଵ ܲ௧ ൒ ܲ௧ ൅ ܻͲ௅௢௪௘௥ ൅ ‫ܵܧ‬௧  (4)
power reserves are required to reduce or increase power
generation when power unbalance happen. The data used in the σே ௗ௜௦௣௔௧௖௛ ்௘௖௛ಾ೔೙
௜ୀଵ ܲ௧ ൑ ܲ௧ ൅ ܻͲ௅௢௪௘௥ ൅ ܻͲ௎௣௣௘௥ ൅ ‫ܵܧ‬௧  (5)
optimization are based on the PSE SA publication, but they
have been modified to reflect the daily dispatch with Energy
VIII. DISPATCH WITH ENERGY STORAGE
Storage.
To investigate the impact of Energy Storage of daily
VII. OPTIMIZING DISPATCH
dispatch, four scenarios were analyzed: (1) NO_ES, (2)
If the power system operators cannot use Energy Storage they ES=1000MW, (3) ES=1500MW and (4) ES=2000MW. The
have to balance the load demand using the conventional power flexible dispatch was limited to controllable units assuming
stations with the assumed priority of dispatch and operation – priority of pre-dispatch for the RES, cogeneration and industry
Fig. 7. with additional assumption of prescheduled cross-border
Dispatchable power units without Energy Storage
flows. The lowest difference between a number of start-ups
and shut-down power units was obtained for ES 2000MW –
18,000
Power Demand
Fig. 8 and Fig. 9.
16,000
Y0_Upper band Number of 225MW units to follow daily demand balance
14,000 Y0_Lower band 45

12,000
40
10,000

8,000 35
Technical Minimum
6,000
30
4,000
25
2,000

0 20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Min Load Y0_Lower Y0_Upper Power demand
15
Fig. 7 Daily Dispatch of power generating units without Energy Storage.
10
During the daily dispatch the power generated has to cover 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

power demand in each periods for a 24 hour schedule. The N0 ES ES 1000 ES 1500 ES 2000

system operator increases and decreases the electricity
generated using Tertiary Reserve (Y0 zones) – Fig.7. When,
the Tertiary Regulation is not able to entirely balance the
varying demand some power units have to be started-up during
mornings and shut-down after evening peaks. It results in
Fig. 8 Number of power units 225MW dispatch to follow demand changes.
The best results were also obtained for Energy Storage
equal to 2000MW for the tracking the optimal dispatch, with
practically zero deviations for ES 2000MW – Fig. 10.

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 Number of Start_Ups and Shut_Downs IX. CONLUSIONS AND FURHER RESEARCH
35
32 32
Despite the presented optimization proved the usefulness
30 of Energy Storage in optimization of power dispatch allowing
Start_Ups Shut_Downs the reduction of a number of start-ups resulting from varying
25
demand, the more research efforts are required to investigate
20
19 several issues.
20 18

15
• What is the relation between maximum demand or morning
15 demand ramp and the amount of Energy Storage used for
10 optimization of power dispatch? In the case analysed, the
10
maximum value of Energy Storage was 2000MW. When
5
5 more units of Energy Storage were installed, they would
not be efficiently used as conventional power units during
0
N0 ES ES 1000 ES 1500 ES 2000
start-ups generated electric energy that has to be
Fig. 9 Number of power units 225MW dispatch to follow demand changes. accommodated in electric networks.
Hourly deviation of operating points from optima in MW • The overall costs of Energy Storage implementation should
be analysed in more details taking into account the capital
900
costs and the possible income from price arbitrage when
700 charging and discharging electrical energy.
500 • Energy Storage mostly discharged during the morning
ramps cannot be used to provide electric energy during
300
evening peaks or at least it can support the balancing during
100 evening peaks in the limited scope.
-100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 • To what degree High Voltage of Energy Storage can be
replaced by distributed energy storage facilities and
-300
Tertiary Reserve can be delivered by energy storage
-500 aggregators operating in all level of voltages.
NO ES ES 1000 ES 1500 ES 2000
Fig. 10 Deviation of operating points from the optimal schedule. REFERENCES
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– Fig. 11. [3] Kasprzyk S., Mielczarski W., „0RGHUQFRPPLWPHQWDQGGLVSDWFKLQ
EDODQFLQJPDUNHWV´in the volume „Development of electricitymarkets”,
Charge and discharge of Energy Storage in daily dispatch
Edition: „The European power supply industry”, Technical University of
1,500
Lodz, April 2005,
1,000
[4] Grid Code, PSE.pl, TR-2017,

500

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

-500

-1,000

-1,500

-2,000
Char_ES 1000 Dis_ES1000 Char_ES 1500
Dis_ES1500 Char_ES 2000 Dis_ES2000

Fig. 12. Charge and discharge of Energy Storage during daily dispatch.

Despite the price arbitrage was not the element of dispatch

optimization, the charging and discharging periods of Energy
Storage were well synchronized with low and high price as the
spot prices for electric energy reflect demand for electricity.

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