Just as smartphone batteries lose capacity and degrade over time, batteries that make up a battery energy storage system (BESS) will also eventually degrade and will need to be replaced or supplemented to maintain outlined operational conditions throughout the system’s life span. BESS augmentation is the process of adding battery capacity as the system ages. The timing of augmentation can be affected by the amount of system capacity overbuilt on the front end of a project.
Initial Overbuild Versus Designed to Augment
Every time a battery is cycled, its capacity and efficiency slightly decreases. A project’s size, functionality and operating conditions can all impact how soon batteries will need energy augmentation — it could be one year, five years, or much further down the road.
A decision on whether or not to design an energy storage system for augmentation is based on…