The hydrocarbon combustion process used to generate electricity releases harmful levels of Carbon, Sulfur and Nitrogen Oxides into the atmosphere. The alternative to environmentally toxic hydrocarbon based fuel, is electricity generated from solar powered microgrids. Solar photovoltaic microgrids represent a clean, renewable and economically viable energy alternative to hydrocarbon based fuel. The microgrid project outlined the specifications required to the charge the battery powered material handling vehicles at General Stamping & Metalworks. The project was designed to replace utility supplied electrical power with a solar microgrid to charge three lead acid type batteries. The solar microgrid project specifies the system requirements, equipment selection and installation methodology. Operational strategies for additional photovoltaic applications within the organization are discussed. Outlined in the report are the costs of installation and return on investment. The project was designed to demonstrate a practical application of microgrids within a manufacturing environment. The goal of the project was to design and build a small scale installation to provide a proof of concept. The overarching goal was to reduce the toxic emissions produced by utility supplied electrical power by installing a solar powered microgrid. The end result of the analysis was that photovoltaic powered microgrids represent a viable energy generating system for battery powered applications. However, based on the regional utility price of .092 $/kWh, the solar installation did not meet the organizations investment acceptance criteria.

Under 2011 började MacBat AB ta fram ett elenergilager kallat Macbat Energy Storage System (MESS), vilket är uppbyggt av 360 stycken tvåvolts bly-syrabatterier inhysta i ett 20 fots container. Då bly-syrabatterier är känsliga för värme är den här studien inriktad på att utreda hur stort kylbehovet blir under olika förutsättningar där kyldistribution, drifttemperatur på batterierna, klimat, isolering och termiska tröghet är varierande parameterar. Det ska även avgöras vilken konfiguration av kyldistribution och isolering som ger lägst kylbehov för de studerade klimaten, vilka är av varmtempererad, arid och tropisk karaktär. För att besvara studiens två mål togs fyra matematiska modeller fram i SIMULINK. Två luftkylda och två vattenkylda där en av varje var isolerad med 100 mm mineralull medan den andra var oisolerad. För samtliga modeller varierades drifttemperaturen mellan 25 – 35 °C och de studerade klimaten utgjordes av Phnom Phen, Kambodja, Djibouti, Djibouti, Bagdad, Irak samt London, England. För de vattenkylda modellerna varierades även MESS termiska tröghet i spannet 1,8058 – 9,0288 MJ/K genom att öka mängden kylvatten i systemet som användes för att kyla batterierna. Batteriernas drifttemperatur visade sig vara den parameter som i högst grad avgör kylbehovets storlek. Isoleringen gav en reducerande effekt på kylbehovet i de fall då omgivningstemperaturen under längre perioder överstiger batteriernas drifttemperatur. Varierande termisk tröghet, i de vattenkylda modellerna, hade liten eller ingen inverkan på kylbehovet. Det beror förmodligen på att den termiska massa som konstant finns i batterierna i form av elektrolyt var betydligt större. I fråga om vilken konfiguration av distributionssystem och isolering som ska användas för att erhålla ett lågt kylbehov visade sig detta bero på klimatet och drifttemperaturen på batterierna. Varmtemperade klimat som London behöver dock inget kylsystem överhuvudtaget. / In 2011 MacBat AB began to develop a electrical energy storage system called Macbat Energy Storage System (MESS), which is made up of 360 two volt lead acid batteries housed in a 20 foot container. However, while lead acid batteries are sensitive to heat this study is focused on investigating how great a cooling demand will be required under different conditions in which chilled distribution, operating temperature of the batteries, climate, insulation and thermal inertia are varied parameters. The study will also determine the configuration of chilled distribution and isolation that gives minimum cooling requirements for the studied climates, which is warm temperate, arid and tropical nature To answer the study's two goals four mathematical models were developed in SIMULINK. Two air-cooled and two water-cooled where one of each was insulated with 100 mm mineral wool while the other was bare. For all models the operating temperature varied between 25 - 35 ° C and the studied climates consisted of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Djibouti, Baghdad, Iraq, and London, England. For the water cooled models thermal inertia was also varied in the range of 1.8058 to 9.0288 MJ/ K by increasing the amount of cooling water in the system used to cool the batteries. The battery operating temperature was proven to have the most significant impact on the cooling load. The isolation yielded a reducing effect on the cooling load in the case where the ambient temperature surpassed the battery operating temperature during longer periods. Varying thermal inertia of the water cooled models had little or no impact on the cooling load. It is probably due to the electrolyte in the batteries. It is a considerably larger source of thermal mass and is constant in all the models. Which configuration, regarding the distribution system and insulation, that obtains a low cooling requirement was found to depend on the ambient climate and the battery operating temperature. However, warm temperate climates such as London requires no cooling system at all.

Magíster en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Mención Eléctrica / Ingeniero Civil Eléctrico / Los sistemas de almacenamiento de energía (ESS) pueden ser utilizados para realizar mejoras sustanciales en los sistemas eléctricos de potencia. Esto se debe a la flexibilidad que entregan durante la carga y la descarga, permitiendo diversas aplicaciones, entre las que destacan el recorte de potencia punta; compra y venta de energía, disminución de pérdidas en líneas de transmisión y evitar congestión el líneas de transmisión. En particular para una distribuidora resulta de especial interés estas características del ESS, ya que le permiten aumentar su rentabilidad. El objetivo principal de esta tesis es dimensionar y localizar de manera óptima ESS con el objetivo de recortar la punta de demanda en redes de distribución (RD). Junto con lo anterior se busca relacionar la optimización con parámetros importantes de ESS, tales como los costos de inversión, eficiencia y vida útil. Para lograr esto se propone una metodología que considera el punto de vista de la distribuidora. Esta metodología evalúa el pago por potencia y compra de energía por parte de la distribuidora; los costos de inversión, y los costos de operación y mantenimiento del ESS. A partir de esta metodología se obtienen diferentes costos de inversión frontera al variar parámetros del BESS tales como la eficiencia y la vida útil. Estas fronteras de costos de inversión determinan el límite costo que hace aún rentable al proyecto de BESS para la distribuidora. Los resultados muestran que el dimensionamiento óptimo está fuertemente afectado por los costos de inversión del BESS. Por otro lado, el parámetro técnico que permite una mayor mejora desde el punto de vista de la reducción de costos de la distribuidora es la vida útil de ESS, donde, por sobre los 5000 ciclos es posible rentabilizar proyectos con los costos de inversión presentes en varias tecnologías actuales. Al utilizar una estrategia de localización óptima la reducción de costos aumenta en de un 4 al 7,5% con respecto al dimensionamiento óptimo y su importancia relativa en el proyecto de BESS depende del precio de la energía. La reducción de costos que se obtiene de la localización óptima de módulos de BESS alcanza una saturación a medida que la cantidad de módulos de BESS aumenta. Este efecto sugiere que existe una cantidad óptima de módulos a localizar.

Microgrids are local power systems of different sizes located inside the distribution systems. Each microgrid contains a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources that acts as a single controllable entity with respect to the grid. Their islanding operation capabilities during emergencies improve the resiliency and reliability of the electric energy supply. Due to its low kinetic energy storage capacity, maintaining microgrid stability is challenging under system contingencies and unpredictable power generation from renewable resources. This dissertation highlights the potential benefits of flexibly utilizing the battery energy storage systems to enhance the stability of microgrids. The main contribution of this research consists in the development of a storage converter controller with an additional stability margin that enables it to improve microgrid frequency and voltage regulation as well as its induction motor post-fault speed recovery. This new autonomous control technique is implemented by adaptively setting the converter controller parameters based on its estimated phase-locked loop frequency deviation and terminal voltage magnitude measurement. This work also assists in the microgrid design process by determining the normalized minimum storage converter sizing under a wide range of microgrid motor inertia, loading and fault clearing time with both symmetrical and asymmetrical fault types. This study evaluates the expandability of the proposed control methodologies under an unbalanced meshed microgrid with fault-induced feeder switching and multiple contingencies in addition to random power output from renewable generators. The favorable results demonstrate the robust storage converter controller performance under a dynamic changing microgrid environment.

The goal of this study was to determine the economic feasibility of battery energy storage system (BESS). Three major economic benefits derived from BESS using were studied: 1. Energy Purchase Shifting, 2. Distribution Feeder Deferral, 3. Outage Avoidance. The economic analysis was based on theoretical modeling of the BESS and distribution system. Three simulation models were developed to quantify the effects of different parameters, such as: BESS round-trip efficiency, life span, rated power, rated discharge time, marginal cost of electric energy, 24 h feeder load profile, annual load variation, feeder load growth rate and feeder length. An optimal battery charging/discharging method was presented to determine the differential cost of energy (DCE). The annual maximum DCE was calculated using stochastic probability analysis on seasonal load variation. The net present value was evaluated as the present value difference between two investments: first, the distribution feeder upgrade without BESS deferral, and second, with BESS deferral. Furthermore, the BESS’s contributions under different outage strategies were compared. It was determined that feeder length is the most significant parameter. The economics of the studied system becomes favorable when the feeder length exceeds a critical value.

With power system restructuring, continuous growth of demand, and deregulation, small, scattered generators referred to as Distributed Generation (DG) are predicted to play a key role in the power distribution system. Moreover, among the different types of DG units, it is widely accepted that renewable DG units are the key to a sustainable energy supply infrastructure, since they are both inexhaustible and non-polluting. However the intermittent nature and the uncertainties associated with the renewable resources create special technical and economical challenges that have to be comprehensively investigated in order to facilitate the deployment of these DG units in the distribution system. The objective of the work proposed in this thesis is to tackle some of the challenges associated with the increased penetration of renewable DG units into existing distribution systems. This includes the study of the impact of different renewable DG units on the supply adequacy of the distribution system, and the development of planning technique that optimally allocate renewable DG units into the distribution system. Furthermore, a methodology is proposed to check the feasibility of implementing energy storage system (ESS) into the distribution system to mitigate the problems associated with the high penetration of renewable DG units. These problems include the maximum reverse power flow limit, the equipment rating limit, and the voltage limit on each bus. The first step toward the accomplishment of this work is to model the random behaviour of the renewable resources (i.e. wind speed and solar irradiance). Here, different approaches are proposed to model the random behaviour of both wind speed and solar irradiance, either chronologically or probabilistically. Among those approaches are a novel technique of annual wind speed estimation based on a constrained Grey predictor, and a new implementation of the probability density function (pdf) of the clearness index so as to model solar irradiance using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). Supply adequacy of distribution systems is assessed based on well-being criteria during different modes of operation (i.e. grid-connected mode and islanding mode), using analytical and (MCS) techniques. During the grid-connected mode, from the load perspective, the substation transformers act as generating units. Therefore, supply adequacy of distribution systems is assessed by considering that the generating units of the distribution system are the substation transformers and the DG units. During the islanding mode of operation, the island is acting as a small autonomous power system (SAPS) and the most important issue during this mode of operation is to determine the probability of the island to be successful (the DG power output within the island matches the load) or a failure (there is a deficit in power generation). The focus of the model developed to optimally allocate the renewable DG units in existing distribution systems is to minimize annual energy losses and at the same time, avoid any violation of the system constraints under any operating condition. The methodology is based on generating a probabilistic generation-load model that combines all possible operating conditions of the renewable DG units with their probabilities, hence accommodating this model in a deterministic planning problem. The objective function of the planning formulation is to minimize annual energy losses; whereas the constraints include the voltage limits, the feeders’ capacity, the maximum penetration limit, and the discrete size of the available DG units. The objective of the methodology proposed for allocating an ESS into distribution systems with high penetration (greater than 20% of the feeder capacity) of renewable energy is to maximize the benefits for both the DG owner and the utility. This is done by sizing the ESS to accommodate the entire surplus of renewable energy, and then allocating it within the system in order to minimize the annual cost of the electricity.

With power system restructuring, continuous growth of demand, and deregulation, small, scattered generators referred to as Distributed Generation (DG) are predicted to play a key role in the power distribution system. Moreover, among the different types of DG units, it is widely accepted that renewable DG units are the key to a sustainable energy supply infrastructure, since they are both inexhaustible and non-polluting. However the intermittent nature and the uncertainties associated with the renewable resources create special technical and economical challenges that have to be comprehensively investigated in order to facilitate the deployment of these DG units in the distribution system. The objective of the work proposed in this thesis is to tackle some of the challenges associated with the increased penetration of renewable DG units into existing distribution systems. This includes the study of the impact of different renewable DG units on the supply adequacy of the distribution system, and the development of planning technique that optimally allocate renewable DG units into the distribution system. Furthermore, a methodology is proposed to check the feasibility of implementing energy storage system (ESS) into the distribution system to mitigate the problems associated with the high penetration of renewable DG units. These problems include the maximum reverse power flow limit, the equipment rating limit, and the voltage limit on each bus. The first step toward the accomplishment of this work is to model the random behaviour of the renewable resources (i.e. wind speed and solar irradiance). Here, different approaches are proposed to model the random behaviour of both wind speed and solar irradiance, either chronologically or probabilistically. Among those approaches are a novel technique of annual wind speed estimation based on a constrained Grey predictor, and a new implementation of the probability density function (pdf) of the clearness index so as to model solar irradiance using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). Supply adequacy of distribution systems is assessed based on well-being criteria during different modes of operation (i.e. grid-connected mode and islanding mode), using analytical and (MCS) techniques. During the grid-connected mode, from the load perspective, the substation transformers act as generating units. Therefore, supply adequacy of distribution systems is assessed by considering that the generating units of the distribution system are the substation transformers and the DG units. During the islanding mode of operation, the island is acting as a small autonomous power system (SAPS) and the most important issue during this mode of operation is to determine the probability of the island to be successful (the DG power output within the island matches the load) or a failure (there is a deficit in power generation). The focus of the model developed to optimally allocate the renewable DG units in existing distribution systems is to minimize annual energy losses and at the same time, avoid any violation of the system constraints under any operating condition. The methodology is based on generating a probabilistic generation-load model that combines all possible operating conditions of the renewable DG units with their probabilities, hence accommodating this model in a deterministic planning problem. The objective function of the planning formulation is to minimize annual energy losses; whereas the constraints include the voltage limits, the feeders’ capacity, the maximum penetration limit, and the discrete size of the available DG units. The objective of the methodology proposed for allocating an ESS into distribution systems with high penetration (greater than 20% of the feeder capacity) of renewable energy is to maximize the benefits for both the DG owner and the utility. This is done by sizing the ESS to accommodate the entire surplus of renewable energy, and then allocating it within the system in order to minimize the annual cost of the electricity.

Thermal energy storage(TES) air-conditioning system is a electrical load management technology with great potential to shift load from peak to off-peak utility periods. TES is now in widespread use for electric rate structures and energy policies and becomes a great contribution to energy conservation. However, TES is more complicated than conventional air-conditioning system in design and control strategies. According to practical field operation, the control of dynamic characters is especially difficult, and so are storage capacity design , discharging rate and charging capacity selection. This study set an example how to improve the energy performance of a retrofitted thermal energy storage air-conditioning system of a marine museum. Through full-scale experiment, historical air-conditioning operation data and computer simulation, the solution is provided on condition of unchanging major water pipe and equipment. This example can be a good demonstration for upping performance of TES. After testing and recording data for one year, this case indicates the investigation is effective and valuable to electric power management and green technology.

This research investigates the effects of both a Hybrid Energy Storage System and an Electrified Turbocharger in a consumer performance vehicle. This research also attempts to support the development of a prototype vehicle containing a Hybrid Energy Storage System currently being developed at McMaster University. Using a custom simulation tool developed in Matlab Simulink, Simulink models of each of the technologies were developed to predict the behavior of these subsystems across multiple physical domains. Control modeling, optimization and testing was completed for both systems. In addition, controls modeling for the Hybrid Energy Storage System was integrated with the development effort for a prototype vehicle considering the specifics of real world components. To assess the impact of these technologies on a performance vehicle platform, the simulation tool tested each technology using multiple vehicle variations. Three vehicle variants were developed, representing: a conventional performance hybrid design, a hybrid vehicle containing an electrified turbocharger, and a vehicle containing a Hybrid Energy Storage System. Electrical system peak output power was the vehicle specification held constant between each vehicle variant. Each vehicle variant was simulated against a number of traditional drive cycles representing everyday driving scenarios in an attempt to compare fuel economy while identifying each technologies individual impact on the vehicles performance. Finally, each vehicle variant was simulated using a custom performance drive cycle in a virtual race. Both technologies as assessed and in comparison to a larger battery variant, did not result in improved fuel economies during conventional vehicle driving. Both the Hybrid Energy Storage System and electrified turbocharger demonstrated improved vehicle performance in particular scenarios. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Electrified vehicles have not typically been viewed as performance vehicles. A recent trend has seen a growing number of manufacturers turn to hybrid and electric powertrains to produce high performing vehicles. However, a performance vehicle's electrical power is conventionally limited by the size and power of its battery, adding weight and cost. Two technologies offer the ability to increase the power of these electrified components without the need for a large battery. First, Hybrid Energy Storage System combines ultra-capacitors and batteries to increase the power density of the system. Second, an Electrified Turbocharger improves the turbo lag of a turbocharged engine and also recovers waste heat energy from the exhaust gases which is then used to propel the vehicle. This research identifies and demonstrates the potential impact these two technologies have when included in an American Muscle Car.

This works begins by providing motivation for additional research and political interest in the use of passenger railway systems as a method of ‘green’ transportation. Additional motivation for the adoption of energy saving methods within new and existing railway systems is also provided. This motivation stems from the relatively small carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometer and large quantity of electrical energy used in association with passenger railway systems. In specific cases, both theoretical analyses and experimental implementations of energy storage in railway systems have shown a reduction in electrical energy use and/or vehicle performance gains. Current railway energy storage systems (ESS) commonly make use of battery or electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) cells. A review of select energy storage technologies and their application in railway systems is provided. For example, the developing Qatar Education City People Mover system makes use of energy dense batteries and power dense EDLCs to provide the range and power needed to operate without a conventional railway power source between stations, formally called catenary free operation. As an alternative to combining two distinct energy storage technologies, this work looks at experimentally characterizing the performance of commercially available lithium ion capacitors (LiCs); a relatively new energy storage cell that combines characteristics of batteries and EDLCs into one cell. The custom cell testing apparatus and lab safety systems used by this work, and others, is discussed. A series of five tests were performed on two EDLC cells and five LiC cells to evaluate their characteristics under various electrical load conditions at multiple temperatures. The general conclusion is that, in comparison to the EDLC cells tested, the LiC cells tested offer a superior energy density however, their power capabilities are relatively limited, especially in cold environments, due to larger equivalent series resistance values. The second topic explored in this work is the development of a MATLAB based DC powered passenger vehicle railway simulation tool. The simulation tool is connected to the experimental analysis of EDLC and LiC cells by comparing the volume and mass of an energy storage system needed for catenary free (no conventional DC power supply) operation between train stations using either energy storage technology. A backward facing modelling approach is used to quantify the drive cycle electrical power demands as a function of multiple vehicle parameters and driving parameters (eg. acceleration rate, travel distance and time). Additional modelling methods are provided as a resource to further develop the simulation tool to include multiple vehicles and their interactions with the DC power supply. Completion of the multi-vehicle simulation tool with energy storage systems remains a task for future work. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)