Power electronics-based energy storages: A key component for Smart Grid technology

Research works regarding energy storage devices incorporated with power electronics circuit are presented in this paper. Since Smart Grid concept was first initiated, it has been well known that one of the key solutions is “energy storages”, which can successfully support in both power and energy applications. Previous research shows that power electronics technology can further enhance the performance of the energy storages to meet such challenge requirement. Recently, several needs for this technology, i.e. energy storage material, power converter topology, energy management and anchor service development, have been continuously proposed. Meanwhile, battery and ultra-capacitors have become a trend to be promising energy storages for smart power distribution networks. This paper starts with the dc-Link voltage optimization technique for SOC balancing control for battery energy storage systems based on cascaded multilevel converters. A real power exchange techniques by a D-STATCOM with ultra-capacitors is then presented. Finally, to enhance energy storage utilization planning, the intermittent power mitigation strategy and energy capacity reduction technique for BESS employed in a power network with renewable energy distributed generations is explained.