Multiple-Use Application Between Wholesale Market and Distribution Level Microgrid with Vanadium Flow Battery

Abstract

The multiple-use application (MUA) between the wholesale market and a distribution level microgrid with a 2 MW / 8 MWh vanadium flow battery (VFB) system has been demonstrated in Southern California. The microgrid has successfully served real residential customers, stably shifting from a grid-connected state to a microgrid in both a black-start transition and a seamless transition in which the customers didn’t notice a power outage. The results validated that the VFB system could supply power to foreseeable blackout areas as a stand-alone power source within a microgrid in times of an emergency such as natural disasters or during planned outages, while supporting power transactions with a grid operator during normal times.