Technology Overview

Solar energy systems are becoming a vital part of renewable energy sources. However, solar power is intermittent, and is non-dispatchable without an energy storage system due to cloud cover and limited daytime hours. Typically, in a grid-tied solar energy system, battery energy storage system (BESS) is essential for the storage of generated energy or reserve energy. BESS serves as an energy reservoir that provides stable power quality, while ensuring effective power delivery and management of power plant load demands.

In addition, BESS is also designed to store excess energy generated from renewable sources, preventing wastage related to excess renewable energy curtailing when the power production peaks while the demand is low. Instead, the excess energy is temporarily stored, and will be delivered at a later time to meet increased demands.

Based in Singapore, the technology owner has developed a compact, scalable and long cycle life BESS using lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) battery modules. The system is capable of bi-directional power conversion, and meets relevant international safety standards. Each battery module is connected to a central battery management system (BMS), which controls inter-module charge level balancing and monitors the module-level BMS in real time. The solution provides a BMS network that enables remote monitoring, real time data management, data collection and analytics, as well as predictive maintenance alerts. The technology owner is seeking industry partners to license and adopt the technology, and co-develop systems for specific applications.

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

• Modular and flexible design suitable for indoor or outdoor applications.
• Scalable solution that suits different energy capacity or voltage requirements. Low maintenance requirement with field replaceable parts.
• BMS measures and monitors individual battery cell voltage, current and temperature with integrated functions including battery state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH)
• estimations, thermal management, fault diagnosis alert and alarm warning.
• Remote monitoring and control of energy data management. IOT-ready for smart integration with power plant energy management systems.

Potential Applications

• Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy intermittency mitigation and smoothing.
• Microgrid and distributed power generation.
• Off-grid hybrid power combination of solar PV and BESS for rural electrification.
• Remote island power supply for communities.
• Independent backup power system in locations with frequent power disruption.

Customer Benefit

• Power smoothing for better power quality.
• Load-levelling for stable power delivery.
• Peak shaving protection to level peak load demand.
• Frequency regulation to stabilise grid energy transmission.
• Flexible interface for remote monitoring data access via cloud server.
• Energy saving solution that can be used to connect solar and grid system.