Differentiation of energy storage station commissioning and testing

What are the commissioning activities of an energy storage system (ESS)?

Commissioning is required by the owner to ensure proper operation for the system warranty to be valid. The activities relative to the overall design / build of an energy storage system (ESS) are described next. The details of the commissioning activities are described in Section 2. Figure 1. Overall flow of ESS initial project phases

What is energy storage performance testing?

Performance testing is a critical component of safe and reliable deployment of energy storage systems on the electric power grid. Specific performance tests can be applied to individual battery cells or to integrated energy storage systems.

What is the difference between a production test and a commissioning test?

A production test may only check that a battery cell’s voltage does not collapse on discharge, verifying that no manufacturing defects are present. A commissioning test may fully discharge the cell, verifying that the capacity required for the application is available.

What is a stored energy test?

The goal of the stored energy test is to calculate how much energy can be supplied discharging, how much energy must be supplied recharging, and how efficient this cycle is. The test procedure applied to the DUT is as follows: Specify charge power Pcha and discharge power Pdis Preconditioning (only performed before testing starts):

Do energy storage subsystems have to pass a factory witness test?

Each subsystem must pass a factory witness test (FWT) before shipping. (Note: The system owner reserves the right to be present for the factory witness test.) This is the first real step of the commissioning process—which occurs even before the energy storage subsystems (e.g., power conditioning equipment and battery) are delivered to the site.

Do energy storage systems need a safety assessment?

Safety Assessment: As more energy storage systems have become operational, new safety features have been mandated through various codes and standards, professional organizations, and learned best practices. The design and commissioning teams need to stay current so that required safety assessments can be performed during commissioning.