Real deployment · BESS optimization and EMS
30 MWh BESS optimization: market forecast to edge dispatch.
VoltMage connected market forecasting, live plant signals, battery optimization, policy validation and local execution for a 30 MWh BESS in Kostinbrod, Bulgaria.
Forecast → Decide → Execute
Evidence status
Architecture proof, without invented performance.
REAL DEPLOYMENT: the published facts are the Kostinbrod location, 30 MWh energy capacity and the described forecast, optimization, policy, telemetry and edge-execution scope.
NOT PUBLICLY DISCLOSED: MW power rating, equipment vendors and protocols, measured availability, forecast accuracy, realized trading revenue, uplift and customer-approved financial results.
This case study explains responsibilities and operating architecture. It should not be read as a promise that another asset will produce the same commercial outcome.
The challenge
A schedule starts ageing the moment it is created.
The commercial logic of storage sounds simple: charge when energy is inexpensive and discharge when it is worth more. Running a utility-scale battery is not.
Every decision has to reconcile the market opportunity with the actual state of the asset. Prices move. State of Charge changes. Equipment becomes constrained. A schedule calculated once per day can become economically suboptimal only hours—or minutes—later.
Pressure-tested in the field
Six challenges. One live asset. No room for delay.
This was not a clean-room software rollout. VoltMage had to understand an operating asset, prove its value and close critical control gaps while the commercial clock was already running.
Benchmark the incumbent process
Benchmark VoltMage against the BESS management process established by the original battery installer—and show where an integrated intelligence layer could perform differently.
Prove reliability and value live
Demonstrate that the operating logic was both dependable and commercially useful on the fly, without the luxury of a long, isolated observation period.
Learn the exact asset—fast
Demonstrate full BESS product understanding for this particular asset group, its interfaces and its operating behavior inside a tightly limited delivery window.
Restore the safety envelope
Project field records describe gaps in the inherited protection configuration and a critically low SOC condition at handover. VoltMage added an asset-health control layer in the EMS before expanding the operating scope. External publication approval for the detailed incident record remains to be confirmed.
Reconstruct what had been built
No formal handover or onboarding had been conducted. The team assessed the physical assets and mapped the asset-group network to establish what had been configured and how it operated.
Make financial impact visible daily
Give the owner a daily view of the asset’s financial impact, connecting physical battery behavior and executed decisions directly to commercial performance.
The VoltMage approach
One battery. One continuous loop.
Forecasts establish the position. Live plant signals reveal when assumptions change. Optimization, policy gates and edge execution turn that context into controlled action.
VoltMage Horizons
Builds the Day-Ahead market context: high-value discharge windows, attractive charging periods, expected spreads and the value of holding flexibility.
How should the battery position itself?VoltMage Signals
Interprets live market data, SOC, actual power, equipment status, constraints, alarms and deviation from the planned trajectory.
Has anything materially changed?VoltMage Discharge
Converts market expectations and technical constraints into a time-based Charge → Hold → Discharge trajectory, then recalculates when conditions warrant it.
What is the optimal feasible action?VoltMage Aptitude
Checks the proposed action against current SOC, PCS readiness, plant limits, safety rules and command priority before it can proceed.
Is it appropriate and executable now?VoltMage Edge EMS
Collects plant telemetry, translates approved setpoints, verifies execution and preserves a time-indexed command queue through connectivity interruptions.
Make it happen at the asset.Battery optimization is not a calculation. It is a continuous control loop.
From support to autonomy
Autonomy is earned in controlled stages.
The operating model does not require a leap from manual control to full autonomy. Each phase validates the data, logic and execution path before responsibility expands.
Observation
Receive telemetry without issuing commands. Validate communication, data quality, equipment mapping, technical constraints and actual battery behavior.
Read onlyShadow optimization
Generate schedules without controlling the asset, then compare the VoltMage strategy with the operator’s executed strategy.
Recommend onlyControlled execution
Execute selected instructions automatically inside deliberately conservative limits while performance and reliability are monitored.
Limited controlAutonomous operation
Run the validated strategy automatically within predefined asset constraints, with operator visibility and control of policy and exceptions.
Guarded autonomySafety by architecture
Optimization lives inside the envelope.
Physical and embedded asset protection always has priority. VoltMage operates only inside the envelope permitted by the BMS, PCS, electrical protection and locally defined operating constraints. A rejected command is never forced past the plant’s protection layer.
Each lower layer can act only inside the authority granted by the layer above it.
Commercial validation
4stagesThe pilot is structured as an integration test, operational validation and commercial proof of value under real plant conditions.
Observation → shadow mode → controlled execution → guarded autonomyEconomic performance
- Realized trading result
- Revenue per cycle
- Captured price spread
- Incremental P&L vs. baseline
- Value per MWh of throughput
Optimization performance
- Forecast vs. realized opportunity
- Adherence to optimized schedule
- Actions successfully executed
- Real-time strategy adjustments
Technical performance
- Communication availability
- Command success rate
- Requested vs. delivered MW
- Edge EMS availability
- Connectivity recovery
- Rejected or constrained commands
The outcome
A unified intelligence and execution layer.
The Kostinbrod deployment establishes the infrastructure for a manually scheduled battery to evolve into a market-responsive asset. Forecasting, scheduling, monitoring and local control become one auditable operating chain—with safeguards preserved at every step.