Current status of research on optimum sizing of stand-alone hybrid solar–wind power generation systems

Solar and wind energy systems are omnipresent, freely available, environmental friendly, and they are considered as promising power generating sources due to their availability and topological advantages for local power generations. Hybrid solar–wind energy systems, uses two renewable energy sources, allow improving the system efficiency and power reliability and reduce the energy storage requirements for stand-alone applications. The hybrid solar–wind systems are becoming popular in remote area power generation applications due to advancements in renewable energy technologies and substantial rise in prices of petroleum products. This paper is to review the current state of the simulation, optimization and control technologies for the stand-alone hybrid solar–wind energy systems with battery storage. It is found that continued research and development effort in this area is still needed for improving the systems’ performance, establishing techniques for accurately predicting their output and reliably integrating them with other renewable or conventional power generation sources.     

Application of superconducting magnetic energy storage in electrical power and energy systems: a review

Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is known to be an excellent high‐efficient energy storage device. This article is focussed on various potential applications of the SMES technology in electrical power and energy systems. SMES device founds various applications, such as in microgrids, plug‐in hybrid electrical vehicles, renewable energy sources that include wind energy and photovoltaic systems, low‐voltage direct current power system, medium‐voltage direct current and alternating current power systems, fuel cell technologies and battery energy storage systems. An extensive bibliography is presented on these applications of SMES. Also, some conclusive remarks in terms of future perspective are presented. Also, the present ongoing developments and constructions are also discussed. This study provides a basic guideline to investigate further technological development and new applications of SMES, and thus benefits the readers, researchers, engineers and academicians who deal with the research works in the area of SMES. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新能源系统中双储能耦合燃煤机组的应用策略研究

  目的  随着新能源电力消费比例不断提高,燃煤机组耦合双储能技术的能源系统发展受到广泛关注。  方法  文章基于能源系统组成、储能技术特性、项目示范情况以及技术瓶颈等方面的分析,针对风电、光伏嵌入下双储能技术耦合燃煤机组参与电力系统调峰应用开展了运行控制策略研究。  结果  双储能技术耦合燃煤机组可通过不同的结构组成、运行策略优化有效解决新能源系统运行稳定性、能源高效利用以及技术经济性等问题,但目前尚未到实现大规模商业化应用阶段。  结论  双储能耦合燃煤机组在新能源系统中的推广应用,需要对双储能技术的策略优化及储能技术本身的发展突破方面不断开展工作。     

Building integrated energy storage opportunities in China

China has a big population and all countryside are being urbanized recently, more and more buildings are being built with careful considerations of energy saving. Building integrated energy systems are thought to be of priority importance. There are extended energy storage researches and developments for buildings, such as building materials for stabilization of room temperature using the daily and night temperature difference in north China, desiccant materials integrated with buildings used for constant relative humidity control in south China. Solar thermal energy storage using specialized design of hot water tank, phase change materials (PCMs) or pebble stones have been well studied and demonstrated, whereas chemical energy storage capability had been also considered with potential applications. The development of electric battery storage for Photovoltaic (PV) is also highlighted as it is a good opportunity for smart grid development. In modern commercial building, uninterruptible power supplies using rechargeable battery packs and thermal energy storage are currently two of the most common applications for energy storage, while other storage technologies are still at the research stage. The above development of building integrated energy storage opportunities in China are described and analyzed, some demonstration projects are shown in this paper.     

Research progress in compressed air energy storage system: A review

压缩空气储能系统通过压缩空气存储多余的电能,在需要时,将高压空气释放通过膨胀机做功发电,在电力的生产、运输和消费等领域具有广泛的用途,是目前大规模储能技术的研发热点。综述了压缩空气储能技术的研究与应用现状,包括工作原理、功能和应用情况,分析了压缩空气储能系统的类型和技术特点,并对压缩空气储能系统的关键部件和系统性能进行了分析比较,最后指出了压缩空气储能技术的发展趋势。     

Progress in carbon fibers based flexible electrodes for supercapacitors

目前，环境友好的清洁能源的开发和设计是能源领域的研究重点。超级电容器是一种新型的储能器件，具有快速充放电的特点，在储能领域有很好的应用潜力。但是能量密度的不足，在一定程度上限制超级电容器的发展。另一方面，柔性电子器件的兴起要求储能器件必须也具备柔性的特质。因此，如何开发一个高能量密度，又同时保有高功率密度、长循环寿命特性的柔性超级电容器是研究人员致力解决的问题。目前常用的方法是将具有高理论比电容的赝电容材料和碳纤维柔性基底结合。本文结合本课题组在碳纤维基柔性超级电容器方面的探索，简单介绍超级电容器的存储机理和系统分类，综述了碳纤维基柔性超级电容器的研究情况和相应的柔性电极的制备方法。最后，讨论了碳纤维基柔性超级电容器在实际应用中的相关前景和挑战。     

Hydrogen energy,economy and storage: Review and recommendation

The hydrogen economy is a proposed system where hydrogen is produced and used extensively as the primary energy carrier. Successful development of hydrogen economy means innumerable advantages for the environment, energy security, economy, and final users. One major key to wholly develop hydrogen economy is safe, compact, light and cost-efficient hydrogen storage. The conventional gaseous state storage system as pressurized hydrogen gas and liquid state storage system pose safety and cost problems to onboard applications; therefore, they do not satisfy the future goals for a hydrogen economy. Fortunately, solid-state storage systems based on metal hydrides have demonstrated great potentials to store hydrogen in large quantities in a quite secure, compact, and repeatedly reversible manner and thus, becoming increasingly attractive option for hydrogen applications. However, techno-economic feasibility of hydrogen storage systems is yet to be realized as none of the current metal hydrides fulfill all the essential criteria for a practical hydrogen economy, mainly because of low hydrogen storage capacity, sluggish kinetics and unacceptable temperatures of hydrogen absorption/desorption. This article gives a brief review of hydrogen as an ideal sustainable energy carrier for the future economy, its storage as the stumbling block as well as the current position of solid-state hydrogen storage in metal hydrides and makes a recommendation based on the most promising novel discoveries made in the field in recent times which suggests a prospective breakthrough towards a hydrogen economy.     

Hydrogen energy systems for underwater applications

The most critical development in conventional underwater applications in recent years is to use hydrogen energy systems, including Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell-powered AIP systems increase interest worldwide. They offer many advantages such as longer endurance time without going to the surface for 2–3 weeks or without snorkeling with an average speed, perfectly silent operation, environmentally friendly process, high efficiency, and low thermal dissipation underwater. PEM fuel cells require a continuous source of hydrogen and oxygen as reactants to sustain a chemical reaction to produce electrical energy. Hydrogen storage is the critical challenge regarding the quality of supplied hydrogen, system weight, and volume. This paper reviewed hydrogen/oxygen storage preferences coupled with PEM Fuel Cell applications in the literature for unmanned underwater vehicles. Since underwater vehicles have different volume and weight requirements, no single hydrogen storage technique is the best for all underwater applications.     

A critical review on progress of the electrode materials of vanadium redox flow battery

Nowadays, renewable energy sources are taken great attention by the researchers and the investors around the world due to increasing energy demand of today's knowledge societies. Since these sources are non-continuous, the effective storage and re-use of the energy produced from renewable energy sources have great importance. Although classical energy storage systems such as lead acid batteries and Li-ion batteries can be used for this goal, the new generation energy storage system is needed for large-scale energy storage applications. In this point, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are shinning like a star for this area. VRFBs consist of electrode, electrolyte, and membrane component. The battery electrodes as positive and negative electrodes play a key role on the performance and cyclic life of the system. In this work, electrode materials used as positive electrode, negative electrode, and both of electrodes in the latest literature were complained and presented. From graphene-coated and heteroatom-doped carbon-based electrodes to metal oxides decorated carbon-based electrodes, a large scale on the modification of carbon-based electrodes is available on the electrode materials of the VRFBs. By the discovering of novel electrode components for the battery system, the using of the VRFBs probably increase in a short time for many industrial and residential applications.     

Heat storage for wood drying using solar heat

储热技术有利于提高太阳能的利用率,降低传统木材干燥的能耗,对木材工业的可持续发展具有重要意义。本文系统地阐述了储热技术的基本原理,简要介绍了其应用概况;结合国内外研究现状,分析了储热技术在木材太阳能干燥中的应用,并指出了储热技术在木材太阳能干燥中的发展趋势。     

The energy storage mathematical models for simulation and comprehensive analysis of power system dynamics: A review. Part i

Energy storage systems are increasingly used as part of electric power systems to solve various problems of power supply reliability. With increasing power of the energy storage systems and the share of their use in electric power systems, their influence on operation modes and transient processes becomes significant. In this case, there is a need to take into account their properties in mathematical models of real dimension power systems in the study of various operation modes, design, etc. In this article the main types of energy storage devices, as well as the fields and applications of their use in electric power systems are considered. The principles of realization of detailed mathematical models, principles of their control systems are described for the presented types of energy storage systems. The article is an overview and can help in choosing a mathematical model of energy storage system to solve the necessary tasks in the mathematical modeling of storage systems in electric power systems.Information is presented on large hydrogen energy storage units for use in the power system.     

Recent progress and prospective of medium and high temperatures thermal energy storage materials

开发中高温储热材料及其制备方法是储热技术发展的关键之一.本文结合中高温储热材料的分类,特点,应用及存在的问题对中高温储热材料的研究进展进行了综述,主要包括显热储热材料,热化学储热材料以及潜热储热材料.探讨了复合结构储热材料及其制备工艺,进一步介绍了其最新研究进展,并对中高温储热材料的下一步研究进行了展望,提出开发高性能纳微复合结构储热材料是未来研究的重点.     

Recent insights in synthesis and energy storage applications of porous carbon derived from biomass waste: A review

In the last few decades, global warming, environmental pollution, and an energy shortage of fossil fuel may cause a severe economic crisis and health threats. Storage, conversion, and application of regenerable and dispersive energy would be a promising solution to release this crisis. The development of porous carbon materials from regenerated biomass are competent methods to store energy with high performance and limited environmental damages. In this regard, bio-carbon with abundant surface functional groups and an easily tunable three-dimensional porous structure may be a potential candidate as a sustainable and green carbon material. Up to now, although some literature has screened the biomass source, reaction temperature, and activator dosage during thermochemical synthesis, a comprehensive evaluation and a detailed discussion of the relationship between raw materials, preparation methods, and the structural and chemical properties of carbon materials are still lacking. Hence, in this review, we first assess the recent advancements in carbonization and activation process of biomass with different compositions and the activity performance in various energy storage applications including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen storage, highlighting the mechanisms and open questions in current energy society. After that, the connections between preparation methods and porous carbon properties including specific surface area, pore volume, and surface chemistry are reviewed in detail. Importantly, we discuss the relationship between the pore structure of prepared porous carbon with surface functional groups, and the energy storage performance in various energy storage fields for different biomass sources and thermal conversion methods. Finally, the conclusion and prospective are concluded to give an outlook for the development of biomass carbon materials, and energy storage applications technologies. This review demonstrates significant potentials for energy applications of biomass materials, and it is expected to inspire new discoveries to promote practical applications of biomass materials in more energy storage and conversion fields.     

Simulation,economic and environmental evaluations of green solar parking (refueling station) for fuel cell vehicle

Energy storage is needed for renewable systems due to the intermittent nature of wind and solar energy. Hydrogen can be used to store variable renewable energy such as solar and wind energy. According to this fact, there is an increasing interest in use of solar-hydrogen systems for power supply in remote areas or other standalone applications. One of these applications is Hydrogen production station working by solar energy to use in fuel cell vehicle. Time consuming aspect of solar-hydrogen production is the most prominent reason for presenting a new scheme as a parking-refueling station for fuel cell vehicles in this study. To do this, Simulation, economic and environmental evaluations of the solar parking-refueling station are considered in this article. Because of using an independent hydrogen compression system, the suggested parking-refueling station can be used in a standalone area such as rural and military applications. Results show that the proposed system seems to be economic in present condition. It also illustrates that the Levelized Cost of Product (Km-Passenger) is in a range of 0.15–0.28 US$. Although using the tracker system is not economically efficient, the effect of such a structure is more obvious in the points far from tropical area.     

Operation principle and applications of multiterminalsuperconductive magnetic energy storage systems

The basic operation principle of a multiterminal superconductive magnetic energy storage (MSMES) system is introduced. The motivation for developing the MSMES systems is to combine and maximize the flexibility benefits provided by energy storage and the controllability benefits provided by power electronic systems. A MSMES system can be used simultaneously as an energy storage device and a power flow control device. This attribute enables MSMES systems to perform some unique functions in electric power systems. Potential applications of MSMES systems and their impact on solving the problems faced by power systems today are discussed     

Review on solar air heating system with and without thermal energy storage system

In order to produce process heat for drying of agricultural, textile, marine products, heating of buildings and re-generating dehumidify agent, solar energy is one of the promising heat sources for meeting energy demand without putting adverse impact of environment. Hence it plays a key role for sustainable development. Solar energy is intermittent in nature and time dependent energy source. Owing to this nature, PCMs based thermal energy storage system can achieve the more popularity for solar energy based heating systems. The recent researches focused on the phase change materials (PCMs), as latent heat storage is more efficient than sensible heat storage. In this paper an attempt has been made to present holistic view of available solar air heater for different applications and their performance.     

Dynamic characteristics and operation strategy of the discharge process in compressed air energy storage systems for applications in power systems

In the context of the rapid development of large-scale renewable energy, large-scale energy storage technology is widely considered as the most effective means of improving the quality and security of electricity. In the existing energy storage technology, advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (AA-CAES) technology has broad application prospects because of its advantages of low pollution, low investment, flexible site selection, and large capacity. However, the lack of an in-depth understanding of the dynamic characteristics of CAES systems has severely limited the development of system design and control strategy, resulting in a lack of commercial operation of large-scale CAES systems. This paper describes the design and implementation of a CAES plant and its controller for applications in the distribution network level. The dynamic mathematical models of AA-CAES were established and a feasible control strategy for the grid-connected process was developed to analyze the dynamic characteristics of the system in the discharge stage. The work done in this study provided a data reference for the deep understanding of the dynamic characteristics of AA-CAES, system design, and control strategy in the industry.     

Transition time effects in collector systems coupled to a well mixed storage

Using analytical methods it is shown how transition times of fluids in collector arrays and system piping affect energy collection in solar systems with a well mixed storage tank. To a very good approximation this effect can be accounted for by a reduction factor multiplying the collector heat removal factor, F_R. The effect is important especially for systems with a small ratio of storage volume flow rate to collector area, systems with a large fluid volume in the collectors and system with long connecting pipes. These all can be characterized by fluid transition times through collectors or piping which are not negligible relative to the fluid transition time in the storage tank. Such systems may appear as viable candidates in Industrial Process Heat applications.     

Electrode and electrolyte materials for electrochemical capacitors

Among different electric energy storage technologies electrochemical capacitors are used for energy storage applications when high power delivery or uptake is needed. Their energy and power densities, durability and efficiency are influenced by electrode and electrolyte materials however due to a high cost/performance ratio; their widespread use in energy storage systems has not been attained yet.Thanks to their properties such as high surface area, controllable pore size, low electrical resistance, good polarizability and inertness; activated carbons derived from polymeric precursors are the most used electrode materials in electrochemical capacitors at present. Other electrode materials such as shaped nano-carbons or metal oxides are also investigated as electrode materials in electrochemical capacitors, but only as useful research tools.Most commercially used electrochemical capacitors employ organic electrolytes when offering concomitant high energy and high power densities. The use of aqueous based electrolytes in electrochemical capacitor applications is mainly limited to research purposes as a result of their narrow operating voltage. Recent studies on room temperature ionic liquids to be employed as electrolyte for electrochemical capacitor applications are focused on fine tuning their physical and transport properties in order to bring the energy density of the device closer to that of batteries without compromising the power densities.In this paper a performance analysis, recent progress and the direction of future developments of various types of materials used in the fabrication of electrodes for electrochemical capacitors are presented. The influence of different types of electrolytes on the performance of electrochemical capacitors such as their output voltage and energy/power densities is also discussed.