Frequently Asked Questions
CRESS · Battery and Capacity Requirements
What is the Minimum Capacity Factor (CF) for Battery?
Is there Capacity Payment for Battery?
What is the defined hours of operation with BESS? As during the townhall, the sample was operating between 9 AM to 9 PM. Can we operate beyond 12 hours, for example, from 9 AM to 11 PM?
Under clause 8.14(a), the BESS is “dispatchable by GSO as per system requirements”. Under what circumstances will GSO be dispatching power from the BESS—
i. Is this for emergency / occasional use only under unusual circumstances, and otherwise, the RED will dispatch the BESS under normal circumstances, or
ii. Will GSO maintain sole dispatch control of the BESS?
For (i) Is there any rules governing how the RED dispatches the power from the BESS?
What is the dispatch priority during solar energy generation? E.g. is it to fully charge the BESS first and export to grid once BESS is fully charged or vice versa? Or is the battery mainly to help firm up/smooth out the half-hourly firm output?
In the industrial dialogue held on 23 Aug, it was explained that only 50% of the maximum capacity of the solar power plant will be exported to grid and the rest will be used to charge battery. Is this mechanism still valid under CRESS Guideline?
Is a RED permitted to sign FCAS (Frequency Control Ancillary Services) agreements with the grid operator for a qualifying BESS system developed within a solar farm, as well as for standalone projects?
If we declare the firm capacity for the next day, how long the plant need to maintain the firm capacity (i.e 6 hour, 12 hours etc?)
For section 8.14 (a) of the CRESS Guidelines, can we understand that for a 100MWac plant, the usable other than nominal capacity for BESS shall be at least 50MW/200MWh?
For the case 50MW/200MWh above, do we need to meet the requirement every day over the PPA term, that every day the plant shall have the capability to inject 200MWh energy to the grid system directly from BESS, even on bad weather days, when the PV system may not generate enough power to ensure full charge of BESS? Is there an inspection & test method and procedure regarding this?