The main task of BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) integration technology is to achieve intelligent and autonomous internal management of the energy storage system, and integrated response or proactive power control and energy dispatch externally. This is accomplished by economically configuring and organically integrating underlying equipment such as energy storage batteries, PCS (Power Conversion System), power distribution, control, and environmental and safety systems, based on the technical principles of the application field and the overall project objectives. This includes optimizing the operation of each component, ensuring effective logical connections between them, and establishing a safe electrical and thermal environment.
BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) integration technology involves multiple technical disciplines, including electrical engineering, power electronics, industrial design, electrochemistry, and various application fields. This places high demands on the professional development and technical capabilities of the system integration team, As shown in the figure.
Currently, most Chinese energy storage system integration teams are based on battery or PCS (Power Conversion System) technologies. They continuously improve their team structure and cultivate integration capabilities through project applications. The key lies in their ability to quickly transition from single-technology research and application to multi-technology cross-disciplinary research and comprehensive application, and from underlying equipment development to system integration development. This involves comprehensively mastering the relevant technical principles in the field of energy storage system applications, establishing balanced multi-technology capabilities for system integration, and ultimately achieving efficient, economical, and safe integration between standardized underlying equipment and diverse application scenarios.
BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) are gradually evolving from project-specific customized solutions to standardized products. The main factors determining the pace of this evolution include the solidification and clarification of energy storage application scenarios, the clear demarcation and interface specifications with existing systems in the application field, the definition of the internal equipment composition and functions of the energy storage system, the overall cost control objectives, and the overall market size.
Adopting a modular combination approach to cover the main power or capacity requirements, based on the greatest common divisor of application scenarios, is a logical and relatively clear path to standardizing energy storage system products. However, this undoubtedly requires the mature development of the target market and the accumulated experience of system integrators. For example, energy storage systems can be divided into high-power energy storage systems (above 1MW), mainly used in power generation or grid applications; medium-power energy storage systems (50kW to 500kW), mainly used in industrial and commercial applications; and low-power energy storage systems (below 50kW), mainly used in residential applications. However, the above power level classification is not entirely accurate, and there may even be overlapping power ranges in specific projects; furthermore, in product integration and development, capacity configuration should also be considered based on segmented market needs, such as power-type and energy-type systems. This naturally increases the variety of energy storage system products. If functional requirements such as grid-connected, off-grid, and seamless switching are also considered, then it seems that one can only fall into the trap of project customization.
Overall, managing the relationship between customized project requirements and standardized products will be an important and long-term task in the R&D and management of energy storage system integration. The ability to effectively manage this balance will largely determine the success of the business：
1) The energy storage system integration team should clearly define its main target markets based on available resources and capabilities, adopt targeted system development, and make informed choices to avoid unnecessary R&D investment and endless feature expansion.
2) The energy storage system integration team should have in-depth research on underlying equipment, such as PCS and batteries, and their interfaces, to maximize their functional utilization.
3) The energy storage system integration team should possess refined and virtualized operational analysis and economic calculation capabilities, combining them with professional knowledge in the application field to provide energy storage system configuration and application solutions, thereby completing energy storage system performance prediction and economic analysis.
4) The energy storage system integration team should possess automated and modular system integration design and manufacturing capabilities, establish and continuously improve standardized equipment or component models, and address potential project-specific requirements.
5) The energy storage system integration team should flexibly handle the contradiction between system hardware standardization and project-specific software customization, striving to maximize overall efficiency throughout the pre-sales, sales, and after-sales processes.