Analysis of grid flexibility with energy storage technologies

Turkish economy continues to develop and the demand for electricity continues to increase. The increase in electrification within the framework of climate policies stands out as a factor that will further increase the electricity demand. Considering that there are regions where there are constraints in electricity transmission, it is an important problem to meet the electricity demand in these regions without causing any power cuts. In this context, the Thrace Region stands out as a region where there is limited electricity production and electricity demand is mostly provided through transmission lines. It is seen that the development of renewable energy will provide a serious benefit in meeting the electricity demand of the region, and by positioning nuclear power as a base load, the production diversity in the region will be increased and the dependence on natural gas will be reduced. Energy storage plays a critical role for both mitigating effects of transmission congestion and contribution of renewable energy into grid. The energy storage offers numerous advantages for the specific grid requirements. In addition, by meeting the self-consumption in the region, it will be possible to decrease the demand from being met by long transmission lines. In this study, the benefits that battery energy storage systems could present in terms of flexibility in the grid with nuclear and increasing renewable energy generation are examined. It is noticed that flexibility provided with batteries are inevitable in terms of intermittent renewable energy capacity growth. Installing battery and adding a base load nuclear energy in the region provides combined contributions in terms of flexibility need of the grid.