Power Converters for Battery Energy Storage Systems

Project Title

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

The increase in demand of electrical energy has brought many evolutions in the field of power. The power requirement by the customers throughout the day is varying that is indicated by Peak and Off-peak demands. There are several ways to cope the situation of varying power needs like running diesel and gas turbine generators during peak hours. One of the way to meet peak demand is to store Electrical power during off-peak hours and utilize it during peak times. Growing innovations and employment of renewable energy sources has made it possible to utilize the intermittent resources also for peak-hour demands in connection to grid. Battery Energy Storage System(BESS) plays a key role in the efforts to combine a sustainable energy source a relaible dispatched load and mitigate the impacts of the intermittent sources. BESS aim to provide storage of power at large scale for later use. The whole systems of BESS includes Battery Banks, Power Converters and intermittent/grid source. The power converter must be efficient and reliable to withstand power storage and requirement by the grid. The converter would be bi-directional Ac-Dc with modern circuit designing techniques like Modular Multilevel Conveter and modern robust controller as Model Predictive Control. This has many applications in modern power systems where intermittent resources are widely utilized for Power generation. This not only makes intermittent resources useful but also provides backup power storage for peak hours use. It can be employed at various locations for the improvement of Voltage levels ,reactive power and frequency.

Project Objectives

To make a efficient, reliable and robust bi-directional converter that controls the storage of power and provide it when in demand.

To compare various topologies of converters and select the best one.

To utilize the hardware model at distribution level.

Project Implementation Method

First, simulations of various converter topologies are compared for the selection of better converter related to application using Matlab/Simulink.

Design a controller in accordance with the application.

Finally, prepare a hardware model of proposed converter for BESS.

Benefits of the Project

This can be used to employ intermittent resources efficiently by integration of these sources directly to grid.

This can also be used for energy storage that can solve problem of power shortages during peak hours of day.

By simple variations, more than one intermittent sources can be combined to generate electrical power and utilize it when demanded.

This is very useful for country like Pakistan where power shortages are increasing day by day and need of green energy is increasing.

Mainly, a micro grid based work can be got through it.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

For the final project, a Modular Multilevel converter along with a battery bank for storage would be delivered in connection to the grid. The MMC utilizes IGBT devices as switches that control the flow of power and other technical objectives are same as of other converter based projects.