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Forecast-based charging strategy to prolong the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries in standalone PV battery systems in Sub-Saharan Africa
Methodology
This paper proposes a forecast-based operation strategy to increase the lifetime of Li-ion batteries in standalone PV battery systems. The goal of the proposed strategy is to only charge the battery as much as needed while minimizing the risk of an empty battery.
This paper has access to one year of historical data for 14 standalone PV battery systems in Sub-Saharan Africa monitored by the company AMMP.
Results and discussion
The hypothesis of this paper is that the proposed forecast-based charging strategy can decrease the average battery SOC in standalone PV battery systems, without causing potential negative effects like a fully discharged battery causing a power outage. In this work, this hypothesis is tested using a simulation-based approach. To evaluate the consequences of the new operating strategy, the reduction in average SOC and the reduction in the time the battery is fully charged.
Conclusion
Rural electrification, climate change goals, and decreasing costs of PV systems and batteries enable the PV off-grid solution to gain significance in the African energy market. However, the market is very cost-sensitive and requires durable solutions. As batteries are the most expensive and least durable component of a standalone PV battery system, this work proposes a forecast-based charging strategy to extend battery life.
