ARRA-Multi-Level Energy Storage and Controls for Large-Scale Wind Energy Integration

Abstract

The Project Objective is to design innovative energy storage architecture and associated controls for high wind penetration to increase reliability and market acceptance of wind power. The project goals are to facilitate wind energy integration at different levels by design and control of suitable energy storage systems. The three levels of wind power system are: Balancing Control Center level, Wind Power Plant level, and Wind Power Generator level. Our scopes are to smooth the wind power fluctuation and also ensure adequate battery life. In the new hybrid energy storage system (HESS) design for wind power generation application, the boundary levels of the state of charge of the battery and that of the supercapacitor are used in the control strategy. In the controller, some logic gates are also used to control the operating time durations of the battery. The sizing method is based on the average fluctuation of wind profiles of a specific wind station. The calculated battery size is dependent on the size of the supercapacitor, state of charge of the supercapacitor and battery wear. To accommodate the wind power fluctuation, a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) consisting of battery energy system (BESS) and super-capacitor is adopted in this project.more » A probability-based power capacity specification approach for the BESS and super-capacitors is proposed. Through this method the capacities of BESS and super-capacitor are properly designed to combine the characteristics of high energy density of BESS and the characteristics of high power density of super-capacitor. It turns out that the super-capacitor within HESS deals with the high power fluctuations, which contributes to the extension of BESS lifetime, and the super-capacitor can handle the peaks in wind power fluctuations without the severe penalty of round trip losses associated with a BESS. The proposed approach has been verified based on the real wind data from an existing wind power plant in Iowa. An intelligent controller that increases battery life within hybrid energy storage systems for wind application was developed. Comprehensive studies have been conducted and simulation results are analyzed. A permanent magnet synchronous generator, coupled with a variable speed wind turbine, is connected to a power grid (14-bus system). A rectifier, a DC-DC converter and an inverter are used to provide a complete model of the wind system. An Energy Storage System (ESS) is connected to a DC-link through a DC-DC converter. An intelligent controller is applied to the DC-DC converter to help the Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) to regulate output power and also to control the operation of the battery and supercapacitor. This ensures a longer life time for the batteries. The detailed model is simulated in PSCAD/EMTP. Additionally, economic analysis has been done for different methods that can reduce the wind power output fluctuation. These methods are, wind power curtailment, dumping loads, battery energy storage system and hybrid energy storage system. From the results, application of single advanced HESS can save more money for wind turbines owners. Generally the income would be the same for most of methods because the wind does not change and maximum power point tracking can be applied to most systems. On the other hand, the cost is the key point. For short term and small wind turbine, the BESS is the cheapest and applicable method while for large scale wind turbines and wind farms the application of advanced HESS would be the best method to reduce the power fluctuation. The key outcomes of this project include a new intelligent controller that can reduce energy exchanged between the battery and DC-link, reduce charging/discharging cycles, reduce depth of discharge and increase time interval between charge/discharge, and lower battery temperature. This improves the overall lifetime of battery energy storages. Additionally, a new design method based on probability help optimize the power capacity specification for BESS and super-capacitors. Recommendations include experimental implementation of the controller and energy storage systems in laboratory environment for further testing and verification, which will help commercialization of the proposed system design and controller.« less