Power Conversion System

Power Conversion System (PCS)

The Power Conversion System (PCS) is a core asset type in the Bazefield platform representing a single PCS unit within a battery energy storage facility. It serves as the foundational asset for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and visualizing operational and performance data. Each PCS asset is uniquely identified and associated with a parent site (e.g., an “Energy Storage Site”), optional PCS station, MV transformer, and/or substation, forming part of the broader asset hierarchy of a Energy Storage System (ESS).

Functional Description

A PCS converts electrical energy between AC and DC forms, enabling bidirectional power flow between the grid and the battery system. It typically includes inverters, rectifiers, transformers, and control systems to manage energy conversion, grid compliance, and operational safety. The PCS is the primary AC/DC Power Conversion asset in a battery energy storage plant (see Domain Categories for a broader description of other AC/DC Power Conversion assets across different power plants).

Core Data Model

While PCS configurations may vary by vendor and site, Bazefield offers a pre-installed CORE data model to account for the most common points, events, and attributes relevant to all PCS units. Model-specific variations are handled through smart Model Inheritance. Vendor-specific points, calculations, and events are packaged in separate asset model templates and are not described here.

Example of a common Modelling Strategy to encompass variations of data between PCS manufacturers and site-specific SCADA configurations.

Core Attributes

Attributes are fixed key-value pairs used to represent non-time series data associated with each asset (read more about Attributes). While attribute values can differ from asset to asset, critical shared (e.g., CORE) attributes defining a PCS asset type, pre-installed in Bazefield, are described below. These are often prerequisite data required for Bazefield applications to function fully.

Required for basic Bazefield Core functionality

Optional attributes for common additional modelling

Depending on your version of Bazefield, there may be additional advanced attributes not listed here to support data integrations or migrations with other systems.

Name	Key	Description	Default Value
Latitude	latitude	GPS coordinates for the PCS using WGS 84 system in decimals	-
Longitude	longitude	GPS coordinates for the PCS using WGS 84 system in decimals	-
Time Zone	timeZone	Local time zone where the PCS is located	-
Rated Active Power	ratedActivePower	Maximum AC power output of the PCS in kW	-
Rated Reactive Power	ratedReactivePower	Maximum AC reactive power output of the PCS in kVAr	-
Discharge Rate	dischargeRate	Nominal discharge rate of the PCS	-
Maximum Energy Capacity (kWh)	energyCapacity	Nameplate maximum Energy Capacity (kWh)	-
Fully Charged Threshold (%)	fullyChargedThreshold	SOC threshold for the PCS to be considered fully charged (e.g., 95% or greater is fully charged)	95
Fully Discharged Threshold (%)	fullyDischargedThreshold	SOC threshold for the PCS to be considered fully discharged (e.g., 5% or less is fully discharged)	5
Charging Threshold (kW)	chargingThreshold	Power threshold for the PCS to be considered Charging and not idle, e.g., -50 = PCS considered charging when output is less than -50kW. (The default value of -50 is generally a good starting point, but must be tuned per inverter model.)	-50
Discharging Threshold (kW)	dischargingThreshold	Power threshold for the PCS to be considered Discharging and not idle, e.g., 50 = PCS considered discharging when output is greater than 50kW. (The default value of 50 is generally a good starting point, but must be tuned per inverter model.)	50
GADS Storage Group ID	GADSStorageGrpId	ID of the GADS Storage Group that contains this PCS	-

Certified Product Templates

This section lists the common, shared point, event, and other data templates applicable to the PCS asset type pre-installed by the Bazefield product team. For Bazefield customers, more details for each template are available per object type in the Certified Product Templates section.

Contains points/events required for Bazefield Core Dashboard functionality

Optional templates for common additional data streams/sources

Template Type	Name	Description
Point Template	Core Real-Time Data	Common raw (or transformed) real time SCADA data model for all PCSs. Raw data with minor scale equations for validation or transformation.
Point Template	Core Real-Time Calculations	Real-Time calculations for PCS modes and statuses.
Point Template	Core Interval Calculations	Periodic aggregated calculations for PCS events and statuses.
Point Template	Core Monitoring KPIs	Analytics to monitor PCS production and performance
Event Template	Core PCS GADS Events	Standard calculated alarms for PCS states. Can be used to drive allocations to determine PCS Hours in different categories, which is useful to report for NERC GADS.