Fast Frequency Reserve from Hydropower

Renewable energy increases the need for better frequency reserve in the power grid. Hydropower has the potential to be able to compensate for fluctuations in the grid. Within this project, new technology for energy storage will be developed built of supercapacitors with power electronics.

With the expansion of renewable energy types, the need for regulating power in the electricity grid increases. Hydropower is the largest producer of electric power and can compensate for the intermittent production of slow fluctuations. The large masses to be set in motion limit how fast changes hydropower can compensate and increase wear and maintenance costs. In order to be able to assist with fast regulating power (FFR), technology will be developed to use an energy storage built of supercapacitors (SC) with associated power electronics. SC arein many cases a more expensive solution than batteries, but have higher power density and can handle many more charge cycles than batteries, it will be a cheaper solution aiming for fast control power and enable smoother operation of the turbine. The project will study the effects and consequences for a possible implementation at Sollefteåforsen's power plant, but the developed technology is generic and could be used at arbitrary plant.