"Techno-economic feasibility study of a utility scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Italy"

This thesis defines the main characteristics of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and performs a techno-economic feasibility study to evaluate their potential application in Italy. Once explicated the context of analysis, the work mainly consists in a model created on Excel, Excel VBA and MATLAB to simulate multiple case studies based on the current Italian regulation. The model is divided in parts that emulate the behaviour of a BESS + coupled plant (property of BKW Italia S.p.A.) combination from various perspectives. The chosen technology are Li-ion batteries, with particular attention paid to the lithium iron phosphate/graphite (LFP/graph) chemistry. Firstly, there is an introduction about why storage importance is globally increasing, and which is the base knowledge that is necessary to understand BESS. Then, there is a general overview on the current state-of-the-art of this technology, followed by the description of the context (the Italian electricity market) in which the case studies are done. Finally, the techno-economic model created for this work is presented, with an explanation on its various components and the description of the obtained results. While for the costs and financial analysis the path is one, to simulate the behaviour and the consequent revenues of the BESS the thesis proposes two different ways: the G.Y. (general yearly) and O.H. (optimised hourly) approaches. The former models the storage on a yearly basis, evaluating the project convenience through multiple realistic assumptions. The second consists in a State of Charge (SOC) management system that works through a code written in Virtual Basic Applications. This logic regulates the behaviour of the simulated BESS on an hourly basis, optimising its functioning on virtual markets by taking count of technical and economic aspects. Both approaches are then used to perform two separated sensitivity analysis, that show the potential of Battery Energy Storage Systems in Italy within the current framework of rules and markets. Thanks to the collaboration between “Politecnico di Torino” and “BKW Italia S.p.A.” it has been possible to develop a model that uses real production data for the coupled plants and has a realistic economic component. Indeed, the support of experts in the sector has been useful to properly emulate various parts of the work, from the markets’ functioning to the financial analysis.