Hybrid Energy Storage Control in a Remote Military Microgrid With Improved Supercapacitor Utilization and Sensitivity Analysis

This paper presents a novel power flow control system for a remote military microgrid with hybrid energy storage. A combination of batteries and supercapacitors (SCs) is managed by the novel control system to increase the battery life by redirecting the higher frequency current that would have to flow in the battery if SCs were not present. This paper offers a practical solution to manage the SC current and ensure that the SCs are never overcharged or commanded to support the system when they are discharged to the lower operating limit chosen. The new controller allows the independent selection of the low-pass filter parameter and the number of SCs. By making the most out of these two degrees of freedom, we investigate different configurations, identifying the one achieving the highest cash flow for the overall system. Modeling, simulations, and experimental verification are presented and linked to the sensitivity analysis of the economics of the military microgrid.