Investigating the Impact on Low-Voltage Grids when Providing Frequency Containment Reserve from Home Storage Systems and Electric Vehicles

Abstract:
A key European objective is to achieve climate neutrality in the electricity sector by 2050. Although the expansion of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power has advanced significantly in recent years, a major share of the potentially generated energy cannot be utilized due to insufficient storage capacity and grid congestions. The resulting redispatch measures cost transmission system operators over C3 billion annually (as of 2023). A significant part of these costs is attributed to balancing services, particularly frequency control reserves. Currently, frequency reserves are predominantly provided by large energy suppliers. At the same time, there has been a substantial increase in private home battery storage systems in recent years, especially in the residential sector. The aim of this study is to develop a model that evaluates the potential of home battery storage systems to provide frequency containment reserve, taking into account photovoltaic generation, residential load and heat pump usage. The model is also extended to include electric vehicles, which can contribute in providing frequency containment reserve. Furthermore, a grid analysis, using the open source tool pandapower is conducted to examine the impact of the additional load from frequency containment reserve on lowvoltage distribution grids.