Application of a power-controlled flywheel drive for wind power conditioning in a wind/diesel power system

In isolated or autonomous power systems incorporating renewable power sources such as wind turbine generators, short-term energy storage devices are desirable for economic operation and transient load mitigation. The paper presents a 45 kW flywheel energy storage system with bi-directional power control capability along with its application into an autonomous wind/diesel power system. The technical aspects relating to system integration and those of the design and development of reliable active and reactive local power controllers are described. Practical results obtained from the application of the storage system for wind power conditioning are presented and supported by analysis