Aggregating distributed plug & play battery storage units: effects on local grid dynamics and efficiency

This study presents a field experiment in Zeeland, Netherlands, that evaluates the effectiveness of residential battery storage within a VPP framework in achieving peak shaving and enhancing grid stability at the low voltage level. Launched in July 2024 in collaboration with Stedin, the experiment involves deploying 1 kW residential plug-and-play battery storage devices— Flexbox—across 20 households equipped with photovoltaic panels. The batteries are scheduled to address daily injection and consumption peaks, with a gradient boosting model used to forecast the peaks. From July to September 2024, the VPP mitigated 42% of injection peaks and 79% of consumption peaks, achieving average daily reductions of 12.5% and 20%, respectively. Simulations further suggest that scaling the VPP to 140 batteries could decrease average daily peaks by 51% for injection and 98% for consumption. These findings highlight the potential of distributed battery storage, in supporting grid stability and enhancing renewable energy integration.