Battery Energy Storage and Their Ancillary Services with Renewable Energy: A Review

Greenhouse gas emission reduction goals set by the United Nations are urging countries all over the world to switch from traditional power generation to renewable energy, such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. Weather conditions highly affect these renewable energy (RE) plants’ power production, and uncontrollable weather changes may cause voltage and frequency unbalances in electric power grids. The lack of dispatchability of renewable energy sources (RES) forces grid operators to curtail the power generation at these RE plants if the demand is not high enough, wasting all the power that could have been generated at that time of the day. The integration of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) with these RE plants can mitigate the power quality issues and provide the power grid with a smooth and controlled output. In addition, the BESS can provide ancillary services to power plants and grid operators, such as frequency control and peak-shaving. The objective of this paper is to perform an in-depth literature review of BESS technologies and their current applications in power systems.