Hi!
I have a rather basic questions that I am trying to figure out for a (so far) purely theoretical project, but can't seem to find the answer to.
Imagine the following basic setup made up of four components:
A household that uses electricity, is connected to the grid, with a photovoltaic system on the roof of the house and an electricity storage unit (Li-Ion Battery) in the basement.
If a simple switch is used in front of the battery, this system allows for some basic energy management:
- When the PV system produces more than the household uses, surplus energy is either stored in the battery (relay on) or sold to the grid (relay off).
- When the PV system produces less than the household uses, energy stored in the battery is released to the household (relay on) or bought from the grid (relay off).
This is not, however, a satisfactory solution as there are many cases that are not covered by this simple setup. As an example let's assume that for some reason electricity prices are high at noon, when the PV system is producing a lot. There might still be energy stored in the battery from previous sunny days, and we might want to sell this stored energy at the same time as the PV system produces more than the household uses. This would require a way to have a controller on the battery that can actively 'pump' electricity out of the battery (one could easily think of a situations when it would be desirable to actively 'pump' electricity into the battery as well).
What kind of device would be required to control a battery in such a flexible way?
Thank you all in advance and please excuse any apparent silliness in my question.
I have a rather basic questions that I am trying to figure out for a (so far) purely theoretical project, but can't seem to find the answer to.
Imagine the following basic setup made up of four components:
A household that uses electricity, is connected to the grid, with a photovoltaic system on the roof of the house and an electricity storage unit (Li-Ion Battery) in the basement.
If a simple switch is used in front of the battery, this system allows for some basic energy management:
- When the PV system produces more than the household uses, surplus energy is either stored in the battery (relay on) or sold to the grid (relay off).
- When the PV system produces less than the household uses, energy stored in the battery is released to the household (relay on) or bought from the grid (relay off).
This is not, however, a satisfactory solution as there are many cases that are not covered by this simple setup. As an example let's assume that for some reason electricity prices are high at noon, when the PV system is producing a lot. There might still be energy stored in the battery from previous sunny days, and we might want to sell this stored energy at the same time as the PV system produces more than the household uses. This would require a way to have a controller on the battery that can actively 'pump' electricity out of the battery (one could easily think of a situations when it would be desirable to actively 'pump' electricity into the battery as well).
What kind of device would be required to control a battery in such a flexible way?
Thank you all in advance and please excuse any apparent silliness in my question.