A facility to test the ability of non-synchronous power plants to maintain continuous uninterrupted operation when a power system is subjected to a voltage disturbance. This is a fundamental requirement to maintain system security and prevent wider frequency collapse.
Real-time digital simulation of power and energy systems with sufficient resolution (2-50μs) allows for monitoring, operation, control, testing, optimisation, validation and maintenance of large and complex electricity and energy networks.
Real-time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing expedites innovative solutions for interconnecting electricity grids over long distances, the integration of large-scale remote renewables, addressing intermittency and the formation of super grids.
Extensive expertise in both conventional and non-conventional power generation and provider of a wide range of power system engineering consultancy services to clients in generation, energy storage, transmission and distribution. These services include commercial and technical advice, assistance and strategic guidance for grid connection.
Specialists in permanent magnet (PM) type electric machines and drive systems. Strong capabilities in designing and optimising high-speed PM machine geometries and developing advanced control techniques to further improve performance for emerging applications such as flywheel storage.
Reconfigurable Energy Storage (ES) systems incorporate a module switching circuit which allows the topology of the ES modules connected to the output converter to be controlled. The voltage and current capacity of the reconfigurable ES system can be adjusted, which increases flexibility and operating range.
In an energy storage string or module consisting of a number of cells, a significant variation in temperature distribution can exist. However, monitoring the whole module temperature is often hindered by hardware and cost limitations and, typically, only a limited number of temperature sensors are employed.
Battery management systems (BMS) for managing both charge and discharge of individual or groups of cells is essential for safety and increasing performance of the system. Balancing can be a simple passive circuit that normalises voltages in the steady-state or highly complex, using networks of active converter circuits that provide balancing function in both transient and steady-state.
Advanced energy storage techniques require advanced grid interfaces. Such advanced interfaces ensure that bidirectional inverter or converter technologies are capable of harnessing the benefits of the storage technique, helping unlock the advantages of new storage technologies.
Simplifying the coordination of vast numbers of Energy Storage (ES) Systems by clustering them dynamically into Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). The main technical challenge caused by massive penetration of different types of ES is the coordination of vast numbers of ES systems, bringing together various types and capacities of ES systems, individual customer behaviour, connections and disconnections of ES systems and potential power network changes.
Unlocking the benefits of large-scale energy storage systems requires advances in power electronics topologies for interfacing and supporting the electricity grid. Multilevel converters can provide optimised, reliable, modular and cost-effective solutions for large-scale multi-megawatt energy storage systems across a range of energy storage technologies.
