Cost-based dimensioning of Battery Energy Storage and energy management system for Frequency Containment Reserves provision

Frequency Containment reserves (FCR), previously called primary reserves, are an important feature insuring safe and reliable operations of the Continental Europe grid. Due to their strong technical requirements, gas and hydro power plants are the almost exclusive provider of FCR. Since gas power plants are becoming less profitable in Europe, a lot of efforts are deployed into FCR diversification. This paper assesses the potential for battery energy storage systems (BESS) to deliver FCR combined with a slow-moving thermal power plant and other emergency solutions such as load shedding and dissipating resistances. A proportional-integral energy management control loop is used whose parameters are tuned by an economic evaluation. We show that economic opportunity already exists today. Some limitations are discussed due to simplifying assumptions. The best solution consists of a 1MW/1.4MWh battery and a 0.09MW power plant per MW of provided FCR reducing by 90% the reservation on power plants.