Comparative analysis of battery energy storage systems’ operation strategies for peak shaving in industries with or without installed photovoltaic capacity

Battery energy storage systems can address energy security and stability challenges during peak loads. This study examines the integration of such systems for peak shaving in industries, whether or not they have photovoltaic capacity. The battery-sizing problem has been analyzed extensively. However, most analyses assume a specific battery operation strategy and ignore the impact of battery-charging schemes on system behavior. In this paper, the authors compare three different operation strategies for charging batteries in an industrial peak-shaving application based on historical demand data from a large electricity consumer in El Salvador. The three strategies are fast charging, time-based charging, and low-power threshold charging. The study analyzes the possible integration of a photovoltaic system with two different sizes for a range of battery sizes (from 250 to 1,500 kWh capacity), examining optimal peak shaving levels, economic savings, and battery degradation. Results indicate that fast-charging reduces monthly billing but degrades batteries faster. The estimated lithium-ion battery lifespan is 10-10.5 years, with a maximum difference of five months. These differences could affect the life cycle economics due to the high costs of battery replacement. The economic savings achieved by the peak shaving operation of the storage system are not enough to compensate the battery investment in this study. However, other case studies with different load profiles or other locations with more expensive electricity tariffs could make the adoption of these systems economically viable.