‘Optimising BESS performance requires long-term perspective,’ says Fluence

“Fluence covers like a whole change, basically from the hardware, the services to that hardware whenever it enters service. And also, we have the digital side, the software side of it, and that is where Nispera and Mosaic come to play,” Barberán says.

“Nispera is more related to asset performance platform. The good thing about our advantage of Nispera is that it allows for the user or for the asset owners to manage their assets in a single way, in a single place.”

Indeed, the platform provides executive views with essential KPIs for portfolio owners while offering more advanced capabilities for technical users.

“On the one hand, we have executive views for users that have a whole portfolio of assets, and they want to see how their assets performing across the globe with simple KPIs, such as range of efficiency, availability, that is a really hot topic right now due to, for example, the grid requirements we have cycles per day,” Barberán explains.

He further differentiates Nispera from Mosaic: “Mosaic is the tool that allows the integration, or the interaction with the grid and for the bidding to the grid, basically.”

It is worth noting that both software platforms, along with Fluence’s OS7 operating system and its Gridstack energy storage technology, have been deployed at Tilt Renewables’ 100MW/200MWh Latrobe Valley BESS in Morwell, Victoria. It is the first time a full Fluence product ecosystem has been deployed globally.

Translating data into actionable insights

Beyond basic monitoring, Nispera offers advanced battery storage analytics, including estimation of state of health and balance, safety analytics, and predictive maintenance features. This approach helps translate the millions of data points generated daily by battery storage systems into actionable insights.

“Something that I think is very important about battery assets is the amount of data that they generate. As we mentioned before in the panel, it could be up to millions of data points in a single day, and that is only focusing on a subset of signals that we consider to be important,” Barberán notes.

Barberán details the process of converting raw data into useful information.

“The first thing that needs to be done is to get that raw data, choose what signals are meaningful, and also understand what frequency you need the data for, because not all signals would be needed to be like seconds or frequency. Maybe they could be minutes, one minute, five minutes.”

A significant advantage of working with Nispera is its specialised knowledge in data management. As Barberán explains, Nispera’s team possesses the technical understanding to identify which battery signals are most relevant to monitor and determine the optimal sampling frequency for each data point.

This targeted approach to data collection and analysis is one of Nispera’s core strengths in battery management.

The platform processes raw battery data through various modelling approaches to generate meaningful insights that feed back into operational decisions:

“Processing that data through either physics-based model, AI models, or hybrid models, or maybe some other simple regulations, or even generating alarm reports, so making sense of that data in different ways that will be meaningful for the end user,” Barberán explained.

This creates what he describes as a loop of information: “Once you provide the user with this type of information, this, in the end, will change the way that the battery operates, because you will make decisions that will lead in the long or in the short term, even change how you’re operating your assets.”

Cost reduction through optimised operations

Barberán also notes how proper battery storage management could simultaneously extend asset life and reduce costs in the long term.

“Both go hand in hand. Some of the actions you can take will help increase the life of the assets, like, for example, performing degradation-informed operations that will increase the level of your assets but also decrease the amount of maintenance that you will need to do,” he says.

Alongside this, Barberán explains how operating batteries within analytically determined parameters reduces long-term costs. By keeping battery operations within these predefined boundaries, the system experiences less stress, directly leading to reduced maintenance requirements. This approach minimises downtime while maximising system availability.

The cumulative effect is a significant reduction in the overall cost of energy storage, as operational efficiency improves and maintenance expenses decrease throughout the battery’s lifecycle.

Regional market differences

When asked about which global market excites him most, Barberán highlights how battery storage operation patterns vary significantly across regions.

“I don’t think there is a global market that excites me the most, because all of them are different,” he tells Energy-Storage.news. “When you look at the data, for example, of cycles per day that the battery performs, or the state of charge that they cover, you understand how differently they operate in each region.”

Barberán provides specific examples: “In California, in the US, you see that the batteries operate with kind of full cycles and more than one cycle per day. Then, if you go to Europe or Ireland, for example, in Ireland, you see that many of the assets provide ancillary services, so they don’t cycle as frequently. In Germany, we also have a mixture, similar sometimes to what we see in the US, similar to what we see in Ireland.”

The diverse operational patterns across global energy storage markets create significant analytical challenges. Barberán points out that this regional diversity means certain analytics tools hold varying levels of importance depending on the market context.

Furthermore, these tools require market-specific customisation to deliver meaningful insights even when using the same analytical approaches across regions. This necessitates a flexible, regionally-aware approach to battery analytics rather than applying one-size-fits-all solutions.

Regarding the biggest challenges facing the global energy storage market, Barberán points to regulatory frameworks.

“I think that it’s mainly the market regulations being up to date with the market regulations because batteries are asked not only to be flexible but also to provide high reliability. And that is really like a challenge,” he says.

Barberán also highlights the growing stakes in markets like Australia: “AEMO forecasts that by 2050, there should be around 600GWh of storage. So, there is a lot more at stake, because a 1% loss in that great amount of energy storage capacity represents millions of dollars.”