High Power Batteries for Utilities

the Worlds Most Powerful Battery and Other Developments

Jim McDowall

Drivers for High Power Storage

Increasing need for power quality

More nines

Developments with small distributed generators

Handling non-coincident loads

Higher penetration of wind power

Power smoothing and ramping

Lack of investment in transmission capacity

Better stability = higher loading

Support for Weak Grids

Problems often lead to load shedding Storage allows time to react

Spinning reserve Automatic load scheduling Power system stabilizing

These functions led to building of the worlds most powerful battery the Golden Valley BESS

The GVEA BESS

Provides up to 46MW of spinning reserve

System baseload is ~80MW Peak load ~180MW

Built by a consortium of ABB and Saft Entered commercial operation in September 2003 First real discharges in November Reached full battery capability in December

Main BESS Data

Active power:

40 MW for 7 minutes 26 MW for 15 minutes (nominal rating)

Reactive Power Compensation up to: 40 MVAR +15% Overload DC-Link Voltage / Current: 3,440-5,200 V / 12,000 A Grid Voltage: 138 kV

System Overview

System Overview

System Overview

System Overview

System Overview

The finished article

Output (MW)
10 15 20 25 30 35 0 11/11/2003 11/26/2003 12/24/2003 1/4/2004 1/13/2004 1/19/2004 1/30/2004 2/20/2004 2/21/2004 2/25/2004 3/1/2004 3/6/2004 3/11/2004 3/19/2004 3/31/2004 0 10 20 30 40 -40 -30 -20 -10 5

But does it work?

62,400 customer disconnections saved
Temperature (F)

A big battery needs a big logo

Other utility applications

Lower power levels

Power quality / short-duration

UPS Smoothing & ramping for wind power Support for distributed generation

New use for aviation battery technology

High power density Up to 200kW for 5 mins in

~7sq.ft.

Advanced storage technologies for high power

Seconds of run time

SMES Ultracapacitors Flywheels

Seconds minutes - hours

Lithium ion batteries Nickel-metal hydride

batteries

All are currently in demonstration phase Low volume production

Lithium ion batteries

Latest developments producing promising results Very high power densities possible

7kW/kg for 2 sec pulse

Projected operating life of 15+ years Excellent cycling capability Zero maintenance

Projected cost

Based on moderate volume industrial production Lithium ion

$700-800/kWh $100-200/kW (15+ years)

Lead-acid

$200/kWh $50/kW (3-4 years)

Lithium ion will be competitive on life cycle cost for high power

Summary

Utility applications for high-power short-duration storage are expected to grow significantly There will be a few very large systems such as the Golden Valley BESS Many more smaller systems deployed as distributed resources