Mobile Hybrid Energy System for Modern Drives of Smart Energy Transition

Abstract

Mainly driven by the climate change, electric power systems are globally going through a transition. In order to cut carbon dioxide emissions and slow down global warming, traditional systems consisting of concentrated, easily controllable and often fossil-based power plants are step-by-step replaced by the ones which are typically distributed, renewable and carbon dioxide free. Often this green and renewable production is weather-dependent and much more difficult to predict than the traditional fossil-based one. In the smart energy transition we are dealing with these critical and topical issues: how to ensure the balance in the power grid, when the controllability of production gets more and more difficult. New solutions, such as flexible loads, demand response and growing role of energy storage, are called for to ensure high quality of electric energy. In all these solutions, more accurate power control is called for. In addition, it is important to realize that such new solutions of modern electric drives always require sophisticated power electronics combined with smart control. To be able to demonstrate these modern electric drives of smart energy transition, a mobile and technically versatile hybrid energy system was designed and built at Tampere University of Applied Sciences. In addition to easy transfer enabled by a trailer solution, the goal of design and construction was in technical diversity. The hybrid energy system presented in this paper has not been tailored to any specific use, but instead, we wanted to be able to demonstrate even such modern electric drives that were not predictable in the design phase of the system. Thus, the technical diversity of the system deserves to be emphasized. In this paper we present the design, the operational principles, smart control properties and some successful demonstrations of energy transition related modern electric drives.