Management of Energy Storage Dispatch in Unbalanced Distribution Networks using OpenDSS

The proliferation of renewable energy resources in an active distribution network leads to increased benefits such as low carbon emission, free energy, and certain challenges like voltage and frequency fluctuation, increase in uncertainty, bidirectional power flow, etc. The integration of energy storage is proposed to mitigate the challenges faced due to the increased penetration of renewable energy resources. Moreover, the integration of storage, in turn, requires optimal planning and energy management methods for efficient utilization of the integrated energy storage systems. The present work describes an energy management approach by utilizing distributed energy storage (DES) in an unbalanced distribution network. The distribution network and all its elements are modeled in open distribution system simulator (OpenDSS). MATLAB-COM interface is utilized to drive the OpenDSS and analyze results. Also, additional constraints to prevent early end-of-life of battery energy storage are modeled in MATLAB. The method is validated on a practical Indian distribution system of IIT Roorkee.