Comparison and Influence of Flywheels Energy Storage System Control Schemes in the Frequency Regulation of Isolated Power Systems

Abstract

Increased renewable energy penetration in isolated power systems has a clear impact on the quality of system frequency. The flywheel energy storage system (FESS) is a mature technology with a fast frequency response, high power density, high round-trip efficiency, low maintenance, no depth of discharge effects, and resilience to withstand continuous charge-discharge cycling without lifetime degradation. These FESS properties allows to effectively address the frequency quality problem. This study analyzes the contribution of a FESS to reducing frequency deviations in an isolated system that combines a diesel plant, wind farm, and pump-storage hydropower plant based on the El Hierro power system. This study approaches this analysis by comparing six different FESS governor control schemes (GCSs). Of these six GCSs, the nonlinear proportional variant (NLPV) is a singular contribution based on the NLP scheme previously developed by the same researchers. Different governor’s parameter settings for the FESS GCSs were also compared, obtained from the proposed tuning methodology that considers the renewable energy generation distribution, frequency impact, and lifetime degradation of diesel, hydraulic groups, and flywheels. The GCSs were compared in terms of average frequency deviation, Zenith and Nadir frequency difference, wear and tear of diesel electromechanical elements and Pelton turbine nozzles, flywheels cycles per hour, and FESS average state of charge. The results show that including a FESS plant considerably improves frequency regulation. The tuning criteria and GCSs have a clear influence on the results, with NLP and NLPV GCSs offering relevant improvements in frequency deviations.