RENEWABLE ENERGY CONFIGURATOR

• US 20130030784A1
• Filed: 04/30/2012
• Published: 01/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
• Original Assignee: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
• Inventors: VIASSOLO, Daniel, SAHUKARI, Sridhar, MURPHY, Gerald, HESSELBK, Bo, ZHANG, Jianhui, UPADHYE, Aditya, ABEBE, Yonatan, HOFFMAN, Jason, SANTOS, Juan, ROLLOW, Brett
• Granted Patent: US 9,466,034 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/18
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/76 Power conversion electric or electronic aspects

Abstract

Embodiments for determining an optimal configuration for a renewable energy power plant are provided. The power plant, which may be a virtual power plant, includes one or more generator devices and one or more energy storage devices that may be operated to undertake one or more operating applications. Data indicative of the power output of the power plant and the voltage level at the energy storage system connection point is received as an input. Using this data, combinations of energy storage devices and operating applications stored on a database are processed and, for each energy storage and operating application pair, a value indicative of the profitability of undertaking the operating application is determined. These values are used to rank the combinations of energy storage devices and operating applications according to their profitability, which in turn is used to select the most efficient or profitable application/energy storage pair.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for determining an optimal configuration for a renewable energy power plant, the power plant comprising one or more generator devices and one or more energy storage devices that may be operated to undertake one or more operating applications, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, as an input, data indicative of the power output of the power plant;

processing, using the received input data, combinations of energy storage devices and operating applications stored on a database and determining, for each energy storage and operating application pair, a value indicative of the profitability of undertaking the operating application; and

ranking the combinations of energy storage devices and operating applications according to their profitability.

2. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of determining, using the received input data, for each energy storage device and operating application pair, a value indicative of the profitability of undertaking the operating application for a plurality of different capacity values for the energy storage device and ranking the combinations for different capacity values.

3. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving, as an input, data indicative of the location of the grid to which the power plant is, or is to be, connected and comparing the operating requirements for the grid with the operating requirements of the one or more operating applications to determine whether they are compatible, and removing from further consideration any incompatible operating applications.

4. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving, as an input, data indicative of the location of the grid to which the power plant is, or is to be, connected and comparing the operating requirements for the grid with the requirements of the one or more energy storage devices to determine whether they are compatible, and removing from further consideration any incompatible energy storage devices.

5. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of selecting the energy storage with the highest profitability value.

6. A computer implemented method for comparing the properties of a plurality of energy storage systems for a renewable energy power plant, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a simulator comprising;

a plurality of energy storage system models that model an energy storage system type;

data indicative of the power output of one or more renewable energy power plants;

one or more application models that model an operating application of a combination of a renewable energy power plant and associated energy storage system; and

a calculation module for performing simulation calculations;

receiving input data indicative of the power output of the renewable energy power plant;

running on the calculation module a simulation of a renewable energy power plant and associated energy storage system according to an application based on the input data, the energy storage system models, the power output data and the application models;

outputting one or more simulation results indicative of the performance of an energy storage system and application combination; and

ranking the performance of a first combination of energy storage system model and application model against one or more further combinations.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the data relating to the properties of one or more renewable energy power plants comprises data obtained from an existing renewable energy power plant or data determined from a location dependent parameter such as wind speed.

8. A method according to claim 6 further comprising calculating, using the simulator, a parameter indicative of the profitability of a plurality of combinations of ESS models and applications and ranking the resulting parameter for each combination.

9. A method according to claim 8 wherein the parameter is the net present value (NPV) of the energy storage system and renewable energy power plant operating according to the selected application.

10. A method according to claim 9 further comprising populating a table ranking each application-ESS pair based on the calculated NPV.

11. A method according to claim 6 further comprising the step of performing a plurality of simulations for a given combination of ESS model and application model using different capacity values for the energy storage system and ranking the results.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein the optimum ESS capacity is determined by calculating a measure of profitability of each size of ESS for a given combination and ranking the results for each combination.

13. A method according to claim 6 further comprising the step of receiving data indicative of the location of the power plant and, prior to providing input data to the simulator, determining which applications are compatible with the grid code requirements for the location and the renewable energy power plant type being considered and removing incompatible applications from further consideration.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein the determination is based upon price information, grid information and/or local wind information.

15. A method according to any of claims 6 further comprising the step of, prior to providing input data to the simulator, determining which ESS types are able to meet the requirements of the application by comparing the application requirements with predefined ESS parameters and removing incompatible applications from further consideration.

16. A method according to claim 6 wherein the applications include one or more of Time-Shifting, Transmission Curtailment, Grid Frequency Regulation, Combination of Time-Shifting and Transmission Curtailment, Forecast Accuracy and Firm capacity.

17. A method according to claim 6 the simulator is provided as a modular arrangement, with the energy storage system models, data relating to the properties of one or more renewable energy power plants and application models are provided within separate modules, the method further comprising the step of performing the simulation of one or more of the modules at a different time rate to the other modules.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein the ESS module simulation is run at a faster rate than the other modules.

19. A method according to claim 6 wherein the renewable energy power plant is a wind power plant comprising a plurality of wind turbine generators.

20. A method according to claim 9 further comprising the step of selecting the combination of energy storage system model and application model with the highest profitability.

21. An apparatus for determining an optimal configuration for a renewable energy power plant, the power plant comprising one or more generator devices and one or more energy storage devices that may be operated to undertake one or more operating applications, the apparatus comprising:

an input terminal for receiving data indicative of the power output of the power plant;

a processor for processing, using data received at the input terminal, combinations of energy storage devices and operating applications stored on a database and determining, for each energy storage and operating application pair, a value indicative of the profitability of undertaking the operating application, the processor further arranged to rank the combinations of energy storage devices and operating applications according to their profitability; and

an output for outputting the ranking.

22. An apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the processor is further arranged to determine, using received input data, for each energy storage device and operating application pair, a value indicative of the profitability of undertaking the operating application for a plurality of different capacity values for the energy storage device and to rank the combinations for different capacity values.

23. An apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the input terminal is further arranged to receive data indicative of the location of the grid to which the power plant is, or is to be, connected, the processor being further arranged to compare the operating requirements for the grid with the operating requirements of the one or more operating applications and to determine whether they are compatible, and to remove from further consideration any incompatible operating applications.

24. An apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the input terminal is further arranged to receive data indicative of the location of the grid to which the power plant is, or is to be, connected, the processor being further arranged to compare the operating requirements for the grid with the operating requirements of the one or more energy storage devices and to determine whether they are compatible, and to remove from further consideration any incompatible energy storage devices.

25. An apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the apparatus is further arranged to select the energy storage device with the highest profitability value.