Battery storage services that minimize wind farm operating costs: A case study

Wind power plants have become a mainstay of German renewable energy production and accounted for 12.3% of gross electricity production in 2015 [1]. Nonetheless, wind turbines do not produce power continuously and require active and reactive power depending on their operating point. Annual energy consumption incurs significant operating costs, which can only be reduced by making technical changes to the existing infrastructure or by modernizing the installed wind turbines. Unlike conventional static power factor compensation systems, battery storage systems (BSS) additionally provide active power and thus double benefits. This paper first describes selected technical constraints of wind farms and defines battery storage system use cases to reduce their operating costs. Furthermore a design algorithm for storage parameters is proposed and the technical configuration is optimized to maximize cost reduction. Experiences and operation data of an 1 MW BSS under test has been factored into use case simulations and results are valued in a cost-benefit-analysis.