Battery Storage for Ancillary Services in Smart Distribution Grids

•A variable pricing strategy allows prosumers with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to participate in the following ancillary services: voltage regulation, congestion relief, demand response, energy arbitrage, frequency regulation (Frequency Containment Reserve) and peak shaving•Participating in ancillary services can be done while also increasing the self-consumption of the prosumer•Participating in ancillary services can increase the economic benefit of prosumers with a BESS•BESSs are still too expensive to result in an economically viable situation Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) for prosumers in distribution grids can be used to increase self-consumption of a PV installation and to stack ancillary services. A variable pricing strategy is used to incentivise prosumers to participate in some ancillary services while other ancillary services are implemented through an economic remuneration or penalty. A model is developed in Python and OpenDSS to determine the optimal economic operation strategy for prosumer scale BESSs while stacking services. The model is tested on the IEEE European low voltage test feeder. It is concluded that stacking ancillary services can benefit the flexibility, safety, reliability and quality of the grid and increases the economic potential of the BESS.