This paper presents the development of a peak-shaving equipment, composed by a multilevel converter in a cascaded H-bridge topology and battery banks on the DC links. Between specific time periods, when the demand is higher, the equipment injects active power from the batteries into the grid to provide support to the system. During the other times of the day, when the demand is lower, the converter charges its battery banks with the exceeding (and low producing cost) energy from the grid. The charge and discharge control algorithms are implemented in a digital signal processor (DSP). The precise time of the day information is obtained from a real-time-clock from a global positioning system module (GPS), which communicates with the DSP through the serial interface. This paper presents the control algorithms and experimental results obtained in a 24 h continuous operation of the equipment.
