The rapidly growing energy storage industry is the key to a 100% sustainable energy landscape powered by renewables. Yet, a critical hurdle stands in the way of achieving this clean energy dream: the lack of an independent solution for integration within utility-scale battery systems. Many current solutions have limitations, ranging from limited functionalities to vendor lock-in, hindering innovation and flexibility. Imagine managing a network of battery systems with disparate control systems, each with its own specific protocols. This creates operational headaches and stifles your ability to optimise your assets. A paradigm shift toward technology-agnostic platforms designed for energy storage systems can benefit the industry.

IT and project management challenges in energy storage Battery system procurement, although complex in its own right, involves a network of dependencies related to IT infrastructure. System integrators play a role in the local energy management system (EMS) by handling the battery and power conversion system (PCS). While they often do a commendable job, there are instances where they may not fully address the intricate business cases that emerge during project development. Beyond the local EMS, local SCADA offers effective solutions for data aggregation and accessibility to strengthen the IT infrastructure. However, comprehensive expertise and hands-on experience in working with battery storage systems are crucial regarding the complex applications of energy storage systems. These attributes give professionals the competitive advantage needed to develop solutions that effectively meet the stringent requirements of the energy industry. Furthermore, managing multiple projects can pose challenges, as asset owners may find themselves with disparate solutions for each project or face vendor lock-in. This issue becomes particularly pronounced with the emergence of co-located energy storage systems, with capacities reaching gigawatts. Reliable, hardware-agnostic platforms specialised in energy storage are necessary to bridge these gaps. Storage assets are getting better but are struggling to catch up with the growing demands of energy and are lagging behind the 2030 targets. While we require policies and regulations to speed up renewable energy adoption, we must ask ourselves, what can we do to achieve the sustainability goals? With a more democratised integration process, the energy storage industry can move from a fragmented landscape dominated by single-vendor solutions to a dynamic ecosystem that fosters innovation and collaboration.

A new approach to energy storage system integration Vendor-agnostic system integration offered as a service acts as a central node between asset managers, optimisers, and various components of your ESS. Combined with industry expertise, it allows for better asset management, control, scalability, and performance. Here’s how: A unified interface allows remote control of all your energy storage sites, regardless of location or vendor. This simplifies the maintenance and monitoring of your portfolio of co-located or standalone generation assets from a user-friendly dashboard. You can troubleshoot issues and optimise performance—all from the comfort of your office. As your energy storage portfolio expands, your needs become complex. Integration-as-a-service offers seamless scalability, allowing you to integrate new battery systems effortlessly without complex reconfiguration. This translates to a smooth onboarding process, minimising downtime and ensuring you can quickly bring new assets online to start reaping the benefits of your investment. It also facilitates easy switching or testing of different optimisers or trading platforms. This flexibility empowers you to explore the best solutions available and optimise your system’s performance based on your evolving needs. A unified platform goes beyond basic control functionalities. It allows you to leverage sophisticated algorithms designed to optimise your battery systems. These algorithms factor in your business objectives and real-time market conditions, ensuring your batteries operate efficiently. This optimisation is further enhanced by integrating deep battery expertise into the control automation. This expertise considers technical limitations and contractual boundaries, maximising your return on investment while adhering to relevant agreements. Flexible integration promotes an open ecosystem where diverse solutions can work together seamlessly. This ensures future-proofing and allows you to leverage best-in-class technologies from various vendors. Imagine being able to integrate your assets with an improved energy trading platform or a powerful battery health monitoring solution – all without worrying about integration protocols. The benefits of integration-as-a-service Integration-as-a-service offers a cloud-based approach, enabling partners to develop, maintain, and manage system-specific integrations for diverse energy storage systems and applications.This translates to several key benefits: Industry evolution: Open integration platforms encourage the development of a robust IT infrastructure that promotes collaboration between professionals in the energy storage space. This fosters a more dynamic marketplace where new technologies and solutions can emerge more readily, accelerating innovation and reducing costs. Empowerment for asset managers: User-friendly, cross-compatible interfaces put you in control, allowing you to optimise your energy storage assets with greater efficiency. You can make informed decisions about your battery operations, leverage real-time data to identify opportunities and ensure your systems are performing at their peak. Market adaptability: A unified interface equips you to adapt quickly to emerging technologies and market demands. Imagine a new market opportunity arises, such as the ability to participate in frequency regulation services. With a unified interface, you can easily integrate the necessary software modules and begin participating in these new markets, increasing the value you can get from your battery systems. An integration-as-a-service solution such as Cellect Control and Partner API could provide an infrastructure capable of uninterrupted system management. Moreover, it eliminates the need for any complex integration efforts on the part of the customer, seamlessly transitioning to on-site control algorithms, maintaining operational integrity and safeguarding against potential disruptions to provide redundancies. Democratising system integration and fostering collaboration A unified integration interface is a critical piece of the puzzle; however, expertise is crucial in optimising battery performance. Energy storage depends on a collaborative approach that fosters open standards and promotes technology-agnostic platforms. For this, energy storage professionals have a crucial role to play. We need to advocate for open-source solutions and fostering collaboration across the industry. This effort can accelerate the development of a robust and efficient energy storage ecosystem, ultimately achieving a clean energy future. About the Author Leon Gosh is managing director and founder of Cellect, a software company providing IT solutions for energy asset operations including monitoring, control and automation of battery storage systems. Gosh began his career in R&D before a power plant engineering role at Vattenfall and then Samsung SDI for system engineering of Li-ion battery systems. Original article published by Energy Storage News. Find it at: Energy Storage News Article