Improving AGC Performance of Coal-Fueled Thermal Generators Using Multi-MW Scale BESS: A Practical Application

With the increasing penetration of renewables in power system, frequency regulation is becoming a big challenge for conventional coal-fueled thermal generator units. To address this issue, more stringent criteria of automatic generation control (AGC) has been established by grid operators to regulate the generators. However, old-fashioned units can hardly meet the requirements and thus are subject to penalty. In this paper, an approach of using battery energy storage systems (BESS) for coordinated frequency regulation is proposed to improve the AGC performance of such generators. A demonstration project with a 2 MW BESS has been commissioned at Shijingshan Thermal Power Plant, Beijing. The basic principles, coordinated control strategy, technical performance as well as economic benefits have been presented and validated with field test results. As a pioneer of its kind in China, this project offers an excellent demo of utilizing BESS for improving AGC performance under the context of high renewable integration.