Sensitivity Analysis of Optimal Battery Sizing to Differences in Microgrid Use

Abstract

In a microgrid context, optimal battery sizing is affected by several factors, including load, pricing, and resource availability. In this paper we analyze how these factors affect optimal battery sizing so that in an early design stage an engineer can identify the factors that should be clarified first. We find that changes to the energy profile have linear effects on the optimal battery size but changes to the shape and timing of the load profile have larger nonlinear effects.