Optimal Scheduling of Battery Energy Storage Systems for Solar Power Smoothing

Increased penetration of renewable resources with intermittent and variable power output has led to an increase in the use of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for grid applications. This paper presents an optimal energy scheduling algorithm for BESS interfaced with distributed energy resources (DERs). A linear programming (LP) formulation is used to determine the output power of the BESS for solar power smoothing, based on predicted day-ahead demand and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation output. The linear programming problem is solved using MATLAB, and the proposed algorithm is implemented on a real-world distribution feeder modeled in OpenDSS. The results show a reduction in net demand variations caused by intermittent PV output, peak demand, and a slight improvement in voltage profile. The impact of battery and inverter size, and initial state of charge (SoC) is also investigated.