Substation ancillary services fuel cell power supply. Part 1. Solution overview

Ancillary services are support services within the power system, those which are necessary to support the transmission capacity and are essential in maintaining power quality, reliability and security of the grid. Considering these facts the supply method of the ancillary services is a key feature for the appropriate operation of the power system. Within this paper the authors are focusing on ancillary services corresponding to substations. The paper addresses the issue of substation ancillary services supplying using unconventional energy sources, such as fuel cells. It is divided into 2 parts. Within the 1^st part, a critical analysis of the substation ancillary services power supply is performed. Several supply solutions are proposed, using normal and backup sources. The 2^nd part is focusing on discussing a case study represented by a real substation from the Romanian Power System. The optimal solution for the substation ancillary services supplying is presented.