IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - Grid Edge 2023 - 104

# Use case
1
table 3. MESS use cases description.
Description
Planned outage
management for PSPS
2 Unplanned outage
management
3 Maintenance outage
management
Power Safety Power Shutdown program
Sudden loss of the utility source
System upgrades related outages,
scheduled in advanced, such as service
transformer upgrade, cable replacement,
pole replacements
4
Load management (at customer
location or a service center)
5 Voltage management for feeder
ends (soft benefit)
Demand reduction during peak hours;
to avoid high electricity prices in summer
Provides voltage support when connected
to areas experiencing power quality issues
(using Volt-VAR scheme)
cost associated with mobile technology and limitation of
scales and dimension.
An example for a typical 1 MWh MESS unit addressing
seasonal needs of a typical utility operation and maintenance
program is shown in Figure 8. This program was
deployed and demonstrated for a Southern California utility.
Each use case is season dependent and provides specific
services while managing weather-related outages or
implementing routine asset maintenance and upgrade. In
the high load seasons, when the MESS is not required for
any scheduled or unplanned outage mitigations, typical load
management (peak shaving) programs are incorporated to
reduce stress on assets such as service transformers and
December
November
February
October
September
August
July
June
PSPS outage management
Load management and unplanned outage
Maintenance (pre-scheduled) outage management
figure 8. Seasonal use cases.
104
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May
March
January
Assumption
Fall season, three outage events,
up to 72 hours
Three outage events,
maximum four hours each
Avoiding four hours of outage associated
with maintenance program for up to
eight customers per service transformer;
up to two maintenance events are
scheduled per day; four days per week,
20 weeks per season
Charge in super off-peak time
and discharge in peak time
Assumed soft benefit for system
during low activity seasons
lines. Detailed description of various seasonal MESS uses
case with the associated assumptions to achieve operational
benefits is summarized in Table 3.
The operational cost of MESS programs is estimated
by extrapolating data obtained from seasonal utilization
of MESS and incorporating assumptions related to annual
frequency and duration of operation for each use case (outage
durations or peak demand hours). A cost-benefit analysis
is then performed to determine overall cash flow generated
over the lifetime of MESS (assuming 10 years) and the
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) as an indicator of investment
profitability.
In the case described above, based on associated cost
components (upfront and annual O&M cost) and total
expected savings (from quantifiable benefits such as
demand charge reduction, avoided cost of outage, carbon
credit), the MESS deployment could be profitable with
30% IRR throughout lifetime of the project. It should be
also noted that adding the non-quantified portion related
to soft benefits would provide and even higher value
proposition.
April
Key Design Features of a Grid-Edge
MESS Technology
MESS technology alters the traditional methods of service
restorations during outages for emergency and critical
customers. It is expected that MESS can easily capture
a significant portion of existing markets for portable
diesel generators while deployed for emergency purposes
and where the regulation for 100% clean and renewable
energies are mandated. There are several key features
that should be incorporated into design of MESS technology
including:
✔ 100% self-sustained design with blackstart capability
to ramp up the generation and quickly restore
power supply to the load.
April 2023
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - Grid Edge 2023

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