Rotor Inertia, Ultracapacitors and Batteries for Wind Power Smoothing

NasiriThe US wind power industry experienced growth of 45% in 2007, with over 5,200MW installed. According to a new technical report published by the US Department of Energy, the installed wind energy capacity could reach 300GW to meet 20% of the US electricity demand by the year 2030. However, the availability of wind energy is estimated at around 15 to 30%. To avoid frequency and voltage drifts due to short-term wind variations, and to lower the need for spinning reserves due to the intermittent nature of the wind in a system with higher wind energy penetration, different techniques may be utilised. Some tools that can be employed are rotor inertia, in variable speed wind turbines, and ultracapacitors for short-term and battery energy storage for long-term, power levelling.

By Adel Nasiri, Assistant Professor, Power Electronics and Electric Motor Drives Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA .

Login

Use of cookies

Windtech International wants to make your visit to our website as pleasant as possible. That is why we place cookies on your computer that remember your preferences. With anonymous information about your site use you also help us to improve the website. Of course we will ask for your permission first. Click Accept to use all functions of the Windtech International website.