Supercapacitor to provide ancillary services

Supercapacitor technology has reached a level of maturity as a viable energy storage option available to support a modern electric power system grid; however, its application is still limited because of its energy capacity and the cost of the commercial product. In this paper, we demonstrate transient models of supercapacitor energy storage plants operating in coordination with run-of-the-river (ROR), doubly-fed induction generator hydropower plants (HPP) using a conceptual system control architecture. A detailed transient model of a supercapacitor energy storage device is coupled with the grid via a three-phase inverter/rectifier and bidirectional DC-DC converter. In addition, we use a version of a 14-bus IEEE test case that includes the models of the supercapacitor energy storage device, ROR HPPs, and synchronous condensers that use the rotating synchronous generators of retired coal-powered plants. In this paper, we emphasize the control coordination among the components of the power system. The control actions must be coordinated and prioritized based the capability, response time, the power rating, and the energy content of the components.