Survey on DC breaking Technologies for Protection of Grid-connected Energy Storage Systems

Grid-connected energy storage systems are an enabling technology for the massive adoption of renewable energy such as solar PV and wind generation. As key components, the DC switches should reliably protect the energy storage elements, e.g., batteries and ultracapacitors, from catastrophic failure modes and improve system availability. However, the electrical properties of energy storage technologies pose new challenges and opportunities for different DC breaking technologies. This paper aims to give a brief overview of several DC breaking technologies regarding their feasibility in grid-connected energy storage systems. The requirements are firstly discussed, followed by a qualitive comparison among different DC breaking technologies from a system integration perspective. Finally, technical challenges and opportunities for different technologies are summarized.