Electrical Storage Integration Into a DC Nanogrid Testbed for Smart Home Applications

In this paper technical issues concerning the integration of a battery energy storage system (BESS) into a DC nanogrid laboratory testbed are discussed, including battery chemistry selection, sizing, and power electronic interface. The BESS-equipped nanogrid has been tested using a droop control scheme. Voltage regulation and power sharing among the sources have been properly achieved by experimental tests. Furthermore, the possibility of dynamically changing the parameters of the droop characteristic has been shown. This result is a first step toward the optimal control of the power flows within the DC nanogrid by using an Energy Management System.