Issue link: https://resources.randsim.com/i/1532829
Executive Summary Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) sites are prone to thermal issues due to the large amount of energy being exhausted in one location. This leads to a reduction in available fresh, cool air for units to pull in, forcing them to re-ingest exhausts and raising intake temperatures to above operable conditions. This phenomenon was exemplified in the analyses performed on the site, which showed that with no exhaust modification over 48% of the HVAC units would fail to meet battery needs causing deration. This would in turn reduce the available capacity for the site to provide to the grid and eat into potential site profits. Through this simple modification, the site shifted from 48% of units exceeded intake temperature thresholds to keeping all units below that their maximum operating temperature, ensuring the site could meet grid demand. Because of the site failures, analyses were performed for remediation solutions. Both 45° and 70° exhaust louvers were tested, where a 70° louver showed substantial promise in the ability to force HVAC exhaust out of the aisles and into ambient wind currents.