Energy Storage for Peak Shaving in a Microgrid in the Context of Brazilian Time-of-Use Rate

The advance of the distributed generation in Brazil makes it essential to investigate the applications and transformations that the use of these new arrangements may entail. The use of non-centralized generation technologies associated with energy storage is interesting for several sectors of the energy market, even if the market is in the process of maturing with these technologies. In the context of the time-of-use rate, these changes have allowed the consumer to use strategies to save energy bills costs,especially when its moment of most considerable consumption coincides with that of the highest tariff. In this paper, a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is used to perform commercial peak load reduction in a microgrid in connected mode. The microgrid also has a Photovoltaic (PV) Generator Farm as Renewable Energy Sources (RES) to provide load consumption and also to assist BESS in the peak shaving operation. The modeling and simulation of the system are performed by MATLAB/Simulink. The analysis demonstrates that the peak load reduction produces the expected financial benefits under a Brazilian time-of-use rate known as White Rate, in addition to carrying out the operation in a manner consistent with the technique from an electrical point of view. The software Homer Grid validates the potentials savings. Thus, the results showed that the use of energy storage associated with renewable generation under a peak shaving strategy allows greater freedom for the consumer in the face of costs with main grid purchases.