BCRES - "Optimizing Battery Sizing and Dispatching To Maximize Economic Return"

The installation of battery energy storage in behind-the-meter applications is poised for exponential growth over the next few years. Batteries can be combined with renewables such as solar or wind and conventional diesel generation to form grid-connected microgrids meaning that these assets can operate for economic benefit when the grid is functional and then provide resiliency during grid outages. The key to making such hybrid systems economically viable is to stack revenue from multiple applications, such as peak demand charge reduction, energy arbitrage, providing ancillary services to the grid, and participating in demand response programs, among others. The added resiliency that these systems offer can then be obtained essentially for free.

In this talk, we’ll show how we use our mathematical optimization model to optimally size hybrid systems to maximize the economic return from these various values steams. We’ll show graphical examples of how the optimal battery dispatch strategy changes from hour-to-hour and month-to-month in response to changes in the electrical load profile, electricity prices, and market conditions. Then we’ll demonstrate how we perform stochastic simulations to quantify the added resiliency that these systems can bring when the grid collapses and these systems are islanded.

Dr Travis Simpkins is a recognized expert in the design, modeling and economic optimization of microgrids. He is currently Chief Technical Officer of muGrid Analytics, which provides techno-economic analysis of renewable energy and energy storage projects to developers, utilities and component manufacturers using their proprietary Redcloud energy optimization platform. Prior to muGrid, Travis was a Senior Engineer at the National Renewable Energy Lab, where he helped the US Department of Defense and other federal agencies improve their energy surety and resiliency using high-penetration renewable microgrids. Travis has an SM and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a certificate of Financial Engineering from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a BSc in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University. He is a senior member of the IEEE and has published numerous papers in the fields of renewable energy, battery energy storage, integrated circuits and applied optics.

This meeting is free for CRES members. There is a $5 suggested donation for non-members. Learn more about CRES, and the benefits of membership at https://www.cres-energy.org/

Parking is available in Lot 556
The West Entrance Circle Lot (550) is pay-by-hour at all times

6:30 Arrive, Light refreshments
7:00 Announcements, followed by the Presentation
8:15 Questions, Networking, Wrap-up and Clean-up

During the Announcements portion of the evening, we certainly encourage you to share info on upcoming events and/or job openings related to your organization or other organizations. If you have something you want to share with the group, and if you want that info posted on our Announcement slides, just send the info to bcres@cres-energy.org. The Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) is dedicated to the advancement of all forms of renewable energy (RE), energy efficiency (EE), and their synergy with sustainability and economic development.