A study of micro hydraulic power generation system with DC voltage compensation by energy storage system

Along with the increasing common concerns on global warming and exhaustion of fossil fuels, renewable and environmental friendly energy sources are being considered to be viable for alternative energy. Among them, hydraulic power generation is high-energy density and hence even small-scale generating plants can provide considerable power and can operate with relatively stable condition compared with the solar and wind power generation. In this paper, a basic structure of micro hydraulic power generation system is proposed, and the cases that this kind of power generation system is supplying power to some local loads operating in isolated condition and power grid interconnected condition at remote area is studied by conducting digital simulations. By taking the variation of water flow from the small river and the change of load into consideration, the operational properties such as the water flow adjusting behavior of a regulating pondage and the voltage compensation effect by a battery system are examined and verified.