Battery energy storage in distribution networks is rapidly gaining importance, in order to balance rapidly varying distributed generation like photovoltaic systems.
EMPEQ’s battery monitoring system (BMS) was developed for the Bronsbergen microgrid in Zutphen, the Netherlands. This microgrid is operated by the local distribution network operator Liander. The BMS accepts a virtually unlimited number of inputs, each measuring the voltage across a single cell or a small group of cells. Eight galvanically isolated inputs are combined on a single interface board. Measured data are then transmitted via a CAN bus to a host system which presents the data and stores them in a log file.
The system can be easily integrated into overall control systems. For example, the BMS in the Bronsbergen project does not perform its own current measurement as this information is measured and made available by the inverters connected to the batteries.
