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At least 19 records

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DOE OSTI2024

Battery-ultracapacitor hybrid energy storage system architecture for mild-hybrid power systems

A mild-hybrid energy storage system architecture is provided, comprising: a battery; an ultracapacitor connected in parallel with the battery; a passive battery pre-charge circuit connected between a terminal of the battery and a DC bus; a battery main contactor connected in parallel with the battery pre-charge circuit between the terminal of the battery and the DC bus; a passive ultracapacitor pre-charge circuit connected between a terminal of the ultracapacitor and the DC bus; an ultracapacitor main contactor connected in parallel with the ultracapacitor pre-charge circuit between the terminal of the ultracapacitor and the DC bus; and a control module configured to independently control operation of the battery pre-charge circuit, the battery main contactor, the ultracapacitor pre-charge circuit and the ultracapacitor main contactor.

Varigonda, Subbarao↗

DOE OSTI2023

Wide temperature range ultracapacitor

A solid state polymer electrolyte is disclosed for use in an ultracapacitor. The electrolyte includes an ionic liquid and a polymer and may include other additives, wherein an ultracapacitor that utilizes the solid state electrolyte is configured to output electrical energy at temperatures between about −40° C. and about 250° C. or more.

Brambilla, Nicolo Michele↗

DOE OSTI2022

Power Hardware-In-the-Loop Hydropower and Ultracapacitor Hybrid Testbed

Widespread deployment of a proof-of-concept technological solution for power system performance improvement can be accelerated through onsite demonstration and pilot projects. Digital real-time simulation with power hardware-in-the-loop in controlled lab environment is the precursor to de-risk the timely and efficient execution of field demonstration and pilot projects. However, the detailed process of development, characterization, and calibration of such high fidelity simulation testbed needs to be documented in a reproducible and publicly accessible manner to leverage across broader research and development communities. This paper presents such a laboratory testbed to study black start capability of a run-of-river hydro + ultracapacitor hybrid system. Beside the high-fidelity model of the islanded grid with hydropower unit, the testbed includes the energy storage, grid following inverter, and grid emulator hardware. Several aspects such as storage characterization, control and various parameter settings necessary to capture frequency transients during load restoration are described in a comprehensive manner, which led to an effective and timely execution of black start field demonstration with an actual hydropower plant.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

PHIL Validation of Ultracapacitor Storage for Black Start Application

A deck of slides that present the modeling, and calibration to conduct PHIL test of ultracapacitor energy storage system. The PHIL test has been done while preparing for the black start field demonstration with Idaho Falls Power. Presentation is invited to the 6th International Workshop on Grid Simulator Testing of Wind Turbine Power Trains and Other Renewable Technologies.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Ultracapacitors with high frequency response

An electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) is disclosed including: a first electrode including a first current collector and first plurality of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) disposed substantially directly upon the first current collector; a second electrode comprising a second current collector and second plurality of CNTs disposed substantially directly upon the second current collector; and an electrolyte disposed between and in contact with (e.g., wetting) the first and second electrodes. In some embodiments, the EDLC is configured to have a capacitive frequency window comprising about 1 Hz to about 50 Hz.

Brambilla, Nicolò Michele↗

DOE OSTI2021

Idaho Falls Power Black Start Field Demonstration (Preliminary Outcomes Paper)

This April 2021 field demonstration builds upon a 2017 field demonstration in which it was determined IFP’s HPPs, on their own, can support islanded black start and operation up to 2.5 MW loading. Modeling and hardware-in-the-loop testing was used in the intervening period to design an energy storage solution, specifically using ultracapacitors, to reduce likelihood of generators tripping during the field demonstration. Overall, the 2021 field demonstration tested three different options for meeting IFP’s requirements: innovating the hydropower controls, synchronizing multiple HPPs on the system, and integrating an ultracapacitor energy storage system. This report documents the testing performed. Follow-on analysis will provide additional insights, for example, including a complete table of comparative results between the tests and scenarios. The analysis will also propose a refined design for an energy storage system to meet IFP’s grid islanded needs.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

An Evaluation of Energy Storage Cost and Performance Characteristics

The energy storage industry continues to expand globally as costs continue to fall and opportunities in consumer, transportation and grid applications are defined. As the rapid evolution of the industry continues, it has become increasingly important to understand how varying technologies compare in terms of cost and performance. This paper defines and evaluates cost and performance parameters of six battery energy storage technologies (BESS) - lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries, redox flow batteries, sodium-sulfur batteries, sodium metal halide batteries, and zinc-hybrid cathode batteries - four non-BESS storage technologies - pumped storage hydropower, flywheels, compressed air energy storage, and ultracapacitors - and combustion turbines. Cost and performance information was compiled based on an extensive literature review, conversations with vendors and stakeholders, and costs of systems procured at sites across the United States. Detailed cost and performance estimates are presented for 2018 and projected out to 2025. Annualized costs were also calculated for each technology.

Mongird, Kendall↗

DOE OSTI2021

Impact of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) Topologies on Performance: Exploration for Hydropower Hybrids

We investigate the technical performance of six HESS topologies integrated with run-of-river (ROR) hydropower to provide frequency support. We choose ROR hydropower because there are 23 GW of installed ROR hydropower in the U.S. and integrating these plants with energy storage could boost their contribution to grid services. We focus on HESSs composed of batteries and ultracapacitors because batteries are cost effective for storing energy but degrade more quickly as a function of cycling. In contrast, ultracapacitors can be cycled millions of times and are cost effective for quick injections of power. We find that active HESS topologies demonstrate the best overall improvement to grid frequency during a contingency while adhering to the power ramping limits of the HESS devices. Future work will investigate other services to identify if one HESS topology performs best for all services of interest or, more likely, different HESS topologies are best suited for specific services.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Dynamic Frequency Regulation Improvement in Hydropower-Hybrid System using Variational Mode Decomposition

Providing frequency response, especially fast frequency response such as Red D in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM) market, is challenging for many generation plants to deliver on their own. If they have adequate flexibility, hydropower plants are typically able to provide slower regulation support (e.g., Reg A in PJM), but do not respond fast enough to provide Reg D. The ability to provide Reg D would improve their revenue because this service is typically more valuable. This work presents a control approach to use hydropower, battery, and ultracapacitor systems to provide fast regulation in a way that uses the response contribution of each asset. In particular, the proposed control architecture applies a variational mode decomposition (VMD) technique on the incoming Reg D signal to extract multiple dynamic-regulation components with non-overlapping frequencies. With the response-speed dependent alignment, these regulation components are fed to the hydrogenator and hybrid energy storage system (HESS). The paper evaluates the proposed approach on a direct-current (DC)-coupled active system by computing several performance measures and analyzing sensitivity based on HESS component proportional capacities. The results reveal that the proposed VMD-based signal conditioning performs well and that optimizing the sizing of the battery and ultracapacitor components further enhances performance.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

CRADA Final Report: CRADA Number NFE-18-07341 with Eonix LLC

Over the past two years, my work has been focused on the development of a commercially viable electrolyte that expands the voltage window of ultracapacitors featuring standard activated carbon electrodes from 2.7V to greater than 3V. During this fellowship in collaboration with staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we refined a high throughput screening process to rapidly analyze the properties and performance of electrolyte candidates in ultracapacitors and establish a quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) methodology for candidate selection. Over sixty electrolyte chemistries were screened using these novel techniques.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2020

Advanced electrolytes for high temperature energy storage device

An ultracapacitor that includes an energy storage cell immersed in an electrolyte and disposed within an hermetically sealed housing, the cell electrically coupled to a positive contact and a negative contact, wherein the ultracapacitor has a gel or polymer based electrolyte and is configured to output electrical energy at temperatures between about −40° C. and about 250° C. Methods of fabrication and use are provided.

Brambilla, Nicol Michele↗

DOE OSTI2022

High temperature energy storage device

An ultracapacitor that includes an energy storage cell immersed in an electrolyte and disposed within an hermetically sealed housing, the cell electrically coupled to a positive contact and a negative contact, wherein the ultracapacitor is configured to output electrical energy within a temperature range between about 80 degrees Celsius to about 210 degrees Celsius. Methods of fabrication and use are provided.

Signorelli, Riccardo↗

DOE OSTI2022

Advanced electrolytes for high temperature energy storage device

Brambilla, Nicolò↗

DOE OSTI2023

Black start demonstrations of small hydropower plants with energy storage

The U.S. has at least 500 municipal, electric co-operative, and publicly owned utilities with hydropower plants. These are mostly grid-connected to support the national grid. However, due to small size (at most 10 MW) and low ramping capacity, many of these hydropower plants lack the capability to form local grids to provide backup power to critical loads (during grid outage) and rural areas. Energy storage, such as Li-Ion batteries or ultracapacitors, can be used to enable these capabilities. Because this technology is relatively new, proof-of-concept demonstrations are needed to de-risk the approach before it can be deployed at scale. Two field demonstrations have been performed to validate this approach, namely, a 375 kVA / 1.24 kWh ultracapacitor with Idaho Falls Power’s 3.6 MW Old Lower (OL), 8.9 MW Lower Bulb (LB), and 8.9 MW City Bulb (CB) hydropower plants; and a 250 kVA / 320 kWh Li-Ion battery with Fall River Electric Cooperative’s 5.5 MW Felt hydropower plant. The Idaho Falls Power demonstration showed the resilience benefits of hybridization, and the Fall River Electric demonstration showed what the minimal requirements are to retrofit a hydropower plant for black start. These demonstrations are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office HydroWIRES Initiative.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Advanced electrolyte systems and their use in energy storage devices

An ultracapacitor that includes an energy storage cell immersed in an advanced electrolyte system and disposed within a hermetically sealed housing, the cell electrically coupled to a positive contact and a negative contact, wherein the ultracapacitor is configured to output electrical energy within a temperature range between about −40 degrees Celsius to about 210 degrees Celsius. Methods of fabrication and use are provided.

Martini, Fabrizio↗

DOE OSTI2024

High temperature energy storage device

Disclosed herein is a method for fabricating an ultracapacitor, the method comprising disposing an energy storage cell comprising energy storage media within a housing; and constructing the ultracapacitor to operate within a temperature range between about 80 degrees Celsius to about 210 degrees Celsius.

Signorelli, Riccardo↗

DOE OSTI2022

Enhancing Local Grid Resilience with Small Hydropower Hybrids: Proving the concept through demonstration, simulation, and analysis with Idaho Falls Power

Large hydropower, connected to the transmission system and typically possessing significant ability to balance grid frequency, has long been central to black start plans in regions where it is present. Small hydropower possesses most of the attributes required for black start but is often connected to distribution or sub-transmission systems and has less ability to balance grid frequency. Integrating energy storage such as batteries or ultracapacitors increases the combined asset’s ability to balance frequency. This asset integration enables a bottom-up grid restoration paradigm in which critical electric loads on the local distribution system can be powered even when the regional transmission system is down. This report presents a field demonstration conducted with Idaho Falls Power that proved this concept. The contribution of energy storage in restoring the small hydro-dominated distribution grid and its operational sensitivity across different control settings are further analyzed using high-fidelity simulations. Readers will learn about technical details on the field demonstration setup, energy storage contribution to black start, detailed simulation steps of islanded distribution grid restoration, and usage of field demonstration measurements for transient model refinements. Collectively this report points to a great opportunity for small hydropower to enhance resilience of local electric grids.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Hydration Mechanisms in Nanoparticle Interaction and Surface Energetics

Work on the project advanced molecular level understanding, prediction and control of nanoscale hydration in salt solutions under electric stimuli or ionic patterning. Permeation of nanoporous electrodes at preset voltage underlies the function of ultracapacitors. Transitory regulation of wetting in nanoporous media by electric field spans an array of applications in materials, energy storage, and separation sciences. The physically related modulation of nanoparticle solubility by surface charges can significantly extend the range of the nanomaterial applications, improve processing techniques, and potentially alleviate environmental concerns. Pore/solution equilibria, and activated kinetics of liquid gating by nanoconfined electrolytes are challenging problems at the forefront of experimental and theoretical research. Addressing these problems from a molecular perspective required the development of state-of-the-art simulation algorithms in statistical mechanics to capture complex processes in open systems under electric control. Parallel studies of wetting and dispersibility of polar and ionizing particles aim to uncover predictive relations between electrowetting, chemical functionalization, and geometry of nanomaterial particles. By nonequilibrium dynamic modeling, we elucidated electrolyte flow in nanochanels and associated electrokinetic energy conversion. Research on the program provided training opportunities for the next generation of scientists in computational chemistry. Insights, and methods from the project implicate broad segment of researchers in energy and nanosciences, materials and surface chemistry.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗