Economics of renewable energy integration and energy storage via low load diesel application

One-quarter of the world’s population lives without access to electricity. Unfortunately, the generation technology most commonly employed to advance rural electrification, diesel generation, carries considerable commercial and ecological risks. One approach used to address both the cost and pollution of diesel generation is renewable energy (RE) integration. However, to successfully integrate RE, both the stochastic nature of the RE resource and the operating characteristics of diesel generation require careful consideration. Typically, diesel generation is configured to run heavily loaded, achieving peak efficiencies within 70–80% of rated capacity. Diesel generation is also commonly sized to peak demand. These characteristics serve to constrain the possible RE penetration. While energy storage can relieve the constraint, this adds cost and complexity to the system. This paper identifies an alternative approach, redefining the low load capability of diesel generation. Low load diesel (LLD) allows a diesel engine to operate across its full capacity in support of improved RE utilization. LLD uses existing diesel assets, resulting in a reduced-cost, low-complexity substitute. This paper presents an economic analysis of LLD, with results compared to conventional energy storage applications. The results identify a novel pathway for consumers to transition from low to medium levels of RE penetration, without additional cost or system complexity

A novel control strategy for stand-alone operation of a wind dominated RAPS system

This paper presents a novel control strategy for a high penetrated wind based hybrid Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS) system. The proposed RAPS system consists of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) based variable speed wind turbine and a battery energy storage system with a dump load for DC bus voltage control and a diesel generator as a back-up supply. An integrated control approach based on active and reactive power balance of the proposed RAPS system has been proposed and developed with a view to regulate the voltage and frequency within an acceptable bandwidth. The proposed integrated control algorithm is implemented by developing controller for the individual system components in the RAPS system including wind energy conversion system, diesel generator, battery storage and dump load while coordinating their responses to achieve optimal operation. The optimised operation for the proposed RAPS system is realised by operating the wind turbine generator on its maximum power extraction mode while restricting the operation of diesel generating system at low-load conditions. In addition to the detailed model, which associated with non-linear high order characteristic of each system components, a linearlised model of the RAPS system is presented with a view to compare the active power sharing among the system components. The suitability of the proposed control strategy has been tested under varying system conditions including fluctuating wind and variable load

Estratégia de controle para a operação ilhada autônoma de uma unidade eólica de geração associada a banco de baterias

The insertion and expansion of distributed generation bring about intrinsic challenges, especially concerning to the reliability and operation of the electric power system, which results in a paradigm shift imposed on power distribution systems. Among the challenges and opportunities associated to distributed generation, the islanded operation of distribution systems and microgrids has grown considerably. In this context, this paper proposes operational and control strategies to properly allow the operation of a wind generation system. The proposed control is based on a supplementary control loop, added to the speed control loop of the wind turbine. The proposed control loop consists of a paradigm shift to control the DC-link voltage, since in traditional systems the DC-link voltage is usually controlled only by the BESS. The proposed supplementary control loop reduces the number and duration of the BESS actuations. Furthermore, the proposed strategy can contribute to enhance the reliability and the life cycle of the energy storage device. This work also proposes a new methodology for minimum sizing of battery energy storage systems to allow the islanded operation of wind power systems. The methodology considers a maximum load step to be supplied by the system. Finally, the proposed control and operational strategies with the BESS are evaluated and validated throughout mathematical analysis and simulation in the time domain using the proposed system. The proposed control strategy was effective in regulating the DC-link voltage, allowing the islanded operation of a wind power system based on synchronous generator with full-size power converters.A inserção e a expansão da geração distribuída (GD) trazem desafios intrínsecos relacionados, sobretudo, a confiabilidade e operação do sistema elétrico de potência (SEP), o que resulta em uma mudança de paradigma imposta aos sistemas de distribuição de energia. Dentre os desafios e oportunidades associados à geração distribuída, destaca-se a operação ilhada dos sistemas de distribuição e microrredes. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho propõe estratégias operacionais e de controle para viabilizar a operação de sistema eólicos. O controle proposto baseia-se em uma malha de controle suplementar, adicionada à malha de controle de velocidade da unidade eólica. A malha de controle proposta consiste em uma quebra de paradigma para o controle da tensão no barramento CC, pois nos sistemas tradicionais essa tensão é normalmente controlada apenas pelo banco de baterias. Através do controle suplementar proposto, torna-se possível reduzir o número e a duração de atuações do banco de baterias, aumentando sua vida útil. Propõe-se ainda, como contribuição, uma metodologia para o dimensionamento mínimo do sistema de armazenamento de energia baseado em banco de baterias para permitir a operação ilhada autônoma de sistemas eólicos. Esse dimensionamento considera um degrau de carga máximo que deverá ser atendido pelo sistema. Por fim, as estratégias operacionais e de controle propostas em conjunto com o sistema de armazenamento de energia são avaliadas e validadas por meio de análises matemáticas e simulações no domínio do tempo utilizando o sistema proposto. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que o controle proposto permitiu a operação autônoma de um sistema eólico baseado em gerador síncrono com conversor estático completo