Battery System Service to Reduce PV-Farm Operating Costs

Photovoltaic and wind farms are becoming an increasing market all around the world. In 2020 photovoltaic and wind farms represent 20% of the total installed capacity. This percentage will continue to increase due to several factors. Studies have shown that photovoltaic farms can operate as reactive power generators, thus providing voltage regulation capabilities. The voltage regulation must be provided even during the time where the plants do not generate and incurs additional operating costs.In addition, long underground cable networks link the PV arrays resulting in large losses to be covered. The present work studies the possibility of utilizing battery energy storage systems to reduce the operating costs incurred in the operation of PV farms. A derivative free optimization technique is used to evaluate and eventually determine an appropriate size for the battery system that is cost efficient in economic terms.