Zambia Energy Storage Peak Shaving Battery

How can energy storage technology help in peak shaving?

Energy storage technologies, such as battery energy storage systems (BESS), can be crucial in peak shaving. Within off-peak hours, energy consumers can store energy in these battery systems.

Should you use battery energy storage for peak shaving?

The potential for cost savings when utilizing battery energy storage systems for peak shaving is significant. Considerable savings are even further evident for high-power demand loads like DC fast electric vehicle charging stations. The rapid increase in power demand while charging an EV can strain a local grid.

What is peak shaving and load shifting?

While peak shaving is achieved through rapid reductions in demand, such as through scaling down production or using a battery energy storage system, load shifting refers to more fundamental changes in operations to reduce energy costs.

How can on-site generation and battery storage improve peak shaving?

Sites with on-site generation such as solar can combine this with battery storage to make their peak shaving of electricity even more effective. On-site generation technologies are already effective at reducing a site’s grid electricity demand, but struggle to provide guaranteed peak shaving due to the inflexible nature of their generation.

What is peak shaving?

Peak shaving is a term used in energy management to describe reducing the energy consumed during peak demand on the electric grid. Peak demand is a period when energy consumers use the most amount of electricity. Peak demand is usually in the morning when people wake up and in the evening when they return home from work.

When should a battery be charged in a peak shaving application?

In a peak shaving application, the batteries must be discharged when the power demand exceeds a predefined threshold, namely the peak shaving level. However, battery charging can be performed according to different strategies: Low power threshold: charges the battery when the demand falls below a low power limit.