Flywheel Energy Storage Systems for Wind Turbine Grid Frequency Stability: A Review
Most recent grid codes require wind turbines to contribute to the recovery of frequency drops in the grid. More of the recently build wind turbines use variable speed generators. Unlike fixed speed generators, these generators do not naturally contribute to the recovery of the frequency drop since the rotor rpm is decoupled from the grid frequency. This decoupling is achieved by controller and power conditioning units. The studies reviewed in this paper focused on the design of such a controller so that the wind turbine could react to frequency drops. Another approach to responding to frequency drops is to connect an energy storage system to the DC bus of variable speed generator. Flywheels have been used as energy storage systems to fill energy gaps in several applications and can be used for frequency recovery application for wind turbines as well. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the improvement of frequency stability of wind turbines connected to electrical grids in the presence of flywheel energy storage systems (FESS). Studies reviewed show that FESS can enhance the power quality and frequency stability of wind turbines connected to an electrical grid.