Field Test and Operation of Utility-Scale Battery Energy Storage System for Fast Frequency Response

Fast frequency response (FFR) of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is an effective way to mitigate the grid frequency deviations induced by the fluctuation of power generation from the variable renewable energy resources and the reduced system inertia caused by decreased number of synchronous generators. According to the above trends, several grid operators have launched the scheme of the procurement of FFR resources from the market, by specifying the technical requirements of FFR such as response speed, the deadband, and droop coefficient. Although there are many studies investigating the effect of the FFR characteristics on the grid frequency stabilization, most of them have been performed using either offline time-domain simulation or hardware-in-the-loop simulation. This paper exhibits the operational waveform of the 49.5 MW utility-scale BESS in Great Britation (GB), which started the commercial operation in July 2023 in GB. In addition, the field experimental results of FFR with various FFR characteristics are shown in order to study the effect of the response speed and the droop characteristics of FFR on the BESS performance. Finally, the subsynchronous oscillation (SSO) observed in the parametric experiments of FFR and its mitigation are demonstrated.