Power Backup, Demand Response and/or Ancillary Services

[sparkview]

Dear all,

I work at the only power generating company on the island of Aruba. The company uses combination of steam turbines and
Reciprocating Engines (RECIP). A small percent of the daily production is also generated by wind turbines and solar systems. After production, the electric energy is further distributed to the electric grid which is managed by a separate distribution company. Aruba is located in the warm waters of the southern Caribbean Sea, and is known for a dry, sunny and windy weather during most of the year. Therefore, renewable energy such as wind and solar is an attractive source of energy to the island. The introduction of more Renewable Energy (RE) poses a challenge on the existing generation assets as RE is not dispatchable. As the company adds more renewable energy sources to the grid, energy storage is especially critical for managing the output of intermittent renewable resources such as solar and wind power.

We currently have several large battery banks at several locations distributed in the power plant. The main purpose of these batteries is to supply critical backup power to controls and emergency DC oil pumps in case of a black out. During my 9 years working at this company I experienced only 4 blackouts which durations was between 4 to 6 hours max. Since these battery units are only functional during short periods, we where looking into the possibility to use a combination of Power Backup, Demand Response and/or Ancillary Services. Which perhaps can aid in managing the output of intermittent renewable resources as described above.

My questions are:
[ul]
[li]Can this be a potential project?[/li]
[li]What can be the risks involved?[/li]
[li]Are there companies that offer such system/ studies?[/li]
[li]Any other ideas/ suggestions?[/li]
[/ul]

In advance many thanks for your cooperation and support.

Regards,
Jairo

 

[itsmoked]

Your description was doing well until the second to last sentence...

Please define and explain what in your specific case you mean by:
1) Power Backup
2) Demand Response
3) Ancillary Services

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[DTR2011]

I was at a large Midwestern wind farm a few years ago to perform switch gear modification. The
modifications were due to the addition of a battery / inverter system so the wind-farm could store
the energy and later provide frequency support. I think it was 20MW. I do know that ABB supplied
the system. You may want to discuss with ABB your needs.

 

[Marmite]

I work for a global consultancy in Perth,Western Australia (GHD). We work very closely with the regional power company here, Horizon Power, which has a huge geographical area, with many townships served by small isolated power systems, generally running on diesel or gas fuelled reciprocating engine generators. The prevalence of rooftop solar in particular, has had a big effect on these small power systems. We've designed a number of storage systems aimed at smoothing the solar output, and also displacing traditional spinning reserve. Another growth area here is standalone power systems, which have storage, diesel generators and solar panels. We've used them successfully to do away with the connection to the distribution network. They have also been used on a large scale to successfully supply remote mine sites.
My former employer, Scottish & Southern Energy in the UK, has installed large amounts of storage on the Shetland Isles in Scotland, which has facilitated the connection of a large amount of wind generation, and reduced the reliance on the central diesel power station. Definitely potential for a project and an exciting and fast moving area, which has the potential to bring major changes to the way we have traditionally designed power networks.
Regards
Marmite

 

[FreddyNurk]

If you're looking at augmenting the grid output using the station backup batteries as the storage element, then you're better off reviewing the scale of requirements for power generation and support against the capacity of your battery bank first, this will likely give you your answer.

If you're looking at integration of energy storage systems to allow for catering the non-dispatchable renewable energy, then its technically feasible, whether or not its economically feasible is another thing entirely. This is an example of flywheel based storage to allow for greater renewable energy usage against diesel reduction.

All of which really depends on what you want to achieve, and how big the plant is.

 

[Overvoltage]

S&C would also be another company that has experience in the storage and integration area. I'm sure you wouldn't have too much trouble finding someone to come to Aruba to discuss it...

 

[rockman7892]

Out of curiosity when we talk about the term "spinning reserve" does this refer to generators that are already synchronized to the grid and can increase power output in a short amount of time? Is this usually generation that is already supplying power to the system and has not yet reached its max power output or is this usually generation that is sitting idle just synchronized to grid and ready to supply power if needed?

Is a "Peaking Plant" usually considered a source of spinning reserve or is this spinning reserve usually made up of unused capacity in "base load plants"?