IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - Grid Edge 2023 - 99

Mobile Versus Stationary
Stationary ESS is a well-established technology and has
been installed worldwide. The ESS, in this case, is a permanent
installation with a fixed, prewired interconnection
point into the area electric power system (area EPS). On
the other hand, MESS can be relocated to and redeployed
at a new location based on the specific use cases. Per
IEEE Std. 2030.2.1, a mobile battery energy storage system
(mobile BESS) is " a kind of BESS which has flexible
connection points as required and is generally installed
on mobile vehicles, such as vehicle-mounted container
BESS " . Although MESS is an established technology for
small and non-utility applications, it has been introduced
as a new concept for utility applications and reliability
improvement at customer sites where stationary ESS may
not be readily available or financially justifiable to provide
support to critical customers.
Figure 1 shows MESS applicability during an outage
between the Stationary ESS interconnection point and customer
load centers. In this case, the Stationary ESS is ineffective
in supplying customers during an outage (even if it
has microgrid functionalities) as it cannot supply customers
Attribute
Technical
Duration of continuous
energy supply
Transfer upon an outage1
table 1. MESS versus portable diesel generators.
Diesel generator
24-48 hours fuel tanks (limited to 8
hours continuous operation)
Customers would experience a
momentary outage to switch from the
grid to the generator
Load serving capability
Reactive power support
Deployment time2
Startup time
Use cases
Up to 80% load serving, and above
50% (to avoid damages to engine)
Limited reactive power injection, No
reactive power absorption
Within 15-30 minutes
Fast, a few seconds
* Outage management (i.e., emergency
backup supply)
* Remote power supply
Mobile energy storage system
8-24 hours for base load, continuous operation
No momentary outage since it has seamless
transition capability through controls (fault
detection and automatic transfer from gridconnected
to island)
Zero to 100% load serving; no limitation
± 100% VAR support (inject/absorb)
Within 15-30 minutes
Very fast, subseconds
* Outage management (i.e., emergency backup
supply)
* Remote power supply
* Grid support (peak shaving, frequency
regulation, voltage support, etc.)
* Charging EV stations
Control and
monitoring capability
Local on/off
* Local HMI for advanced controls (operations
mode, application, setpoints, etc.)
* Advanced monitoring of all system's status
and measurements
* Remote control and monitoring through
standard communications
Special permit requirements
Environmental
Emission level
Air quality permits due to emission
(depending on the size and jurisdiction)
High
Transportation permit only if exceeding
allowable dimensions and weight per DOT
No emission to medium (depending on the
generation source utilized for recharging)
No emission to medium (depending on the
generation source utilized for recharging)
Noise level
Very high (70-95 dB)
Low (below 60 dB)
1This could be for a planned outage for which MESS is located and connected before the outage or an unplanned outage for
which MESS is connected to provide grid support prior to an outage.
2The time from the moment the generation source is onsite to the time that all connections are completed, and system is ready
to energize.
April 2023
ieee power & energy magazine
99
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - Grid Edge 2023

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