Peak Shaving with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

The Fraunhofer IISB offers algorithms and simulation tools for the reduction of power consumption peaks (peak shaving) with battery energy storage systems (BESS). The main advantage of using a battery system is that no energy consumers have to be switched off and thus the production and the infrastructure plants are not affected. Electrical energy costs often depend on the maximum power peak in a specific period (e.g. one year). Therefore, the arithmetically averaged power consumption (interval e.g. 15 minutes) is regarded. High savings in costs for electrical power are possible due to smoothing the load profile. Furthermore, high peak loads lead to oversized electrical grids because they have to be designed for the maximum expected power. To counteract this, the maximum electrical power has to be reduced.

The algorithms are validated by the demonstration platform at the Fraunhofer IISB. The test system consists of a battery system with a capacity of 60 kWh and a maximum power of 100 kW. The algorithms are executed by an overall system control, which is an extension of the energy monitoring system. Support of load shifting with combined heat and power units (CHP) and thermal energy storages (TES) is currently being developed.

The demonstrator can be used for

analysis of seven different load profiles

simulation of smoothed (shaved) power time series

dimensioning storage systems