Mathematical modelling of short-term power storage and its use in grid stabilisation

未来几年，我们需要采取重大措施，摆脱化石燃料发电，转向可再生能源。然而，这些步骤将带来其自身的挑战。对于许多类型的可再生能源，能源是高度可变的，发电系统具有低惯性，使得整个系统对这些供应波动更加敏感。一个有希望的解决方法是使用短期储能系统来平滑功率变化，如超级电容器，飞轮和超导磁储能。数学建模对于理解不同储能系统的优势和局限性以及探索如何最好地控制和使用它们以实现良好的电能质量非常有价值。在这个研究项目中，我将开始看锂离子超级电容器中电荷存储和释放的动态，目的是定量了解超级电容器设计的各个方面如何影响超级电容器的性能。这项工作将建立在现有的锂离子电池模型的基础上，但重点是了解适合超级电容器的短时间尺度上的充电/放电行为，与ESPRC研究领域“储能”保持一致。我将用于这种分析的方法将集中在数学建模的传输，反应，和变形的电极和电解质，与EPSRC的研究领域“连续力学”对齐。我的超级电容器研究的第二个目标将是开发简化模型，捕捉超级电容器行为的主要特征，但也足够简单，可以很容易地纳入网格尺度建模。这将导致我的项目的第二部分，在那里我将专注于电网规模的系统，并探讨是否以及如何短期储能可以用作电网稳定的工具。这是一个特别紧迫的问题，因为我们转向低碳经济，减少我们对涡轮技术的依赖。国家电网已经宣布了新的频率响应技术系统，包括短期储能，现在正在探索使用退役的涡轮机来保持电网内的惯性。我的工作将有助于确定是否以及如何单独使用超级电容器（或涉及超级电容器，飞轮和超导线圈的短期储能组合）来维持电网稳定性，而不必通过退役的涡轮机向系统引入惯性。这与ESPRC研究领域“整体能源系统”的目标密切相关。

In the coming years, we need to take significant steps to move away from fossil fuel power generation and towards renewable energy sources. However, these steps will come with their own challenges. For many types of renewable energy, the energy sources are highly variable, and the power generation systems have low inertia, making the entire system more sensitive to these fluctuations in supply. A promising way of dealing with this is to smooth power variability using short-term energy storage systems like supercapacitors, flywheels and superconducting magnetic energy storage. Mathematical modelling promises to be extremely valuable for understanding the strengths and limitations of different energy storage systems and exploring how they are best controlled and used in order to achieve good power quality. In this research project, I will begin by looking at the dynamics of charge storage and release in lithium ion supercapacitors with the aim of developing a quantitative understanding of how aspects of supercapacitor design affect supercapacitor performance. This work will build on existing models of lithium-ion batteries, but with a focus on understanding charge/discharge behaviour on the short timescales that are appropriate for supercapacitors, aligning with the ESPRC research area "Energy Storage". The methods that I will use for this analysis will focus on the mathematical modelling transport, reaction, and deformation in electrodes and electrolytes, aligning with the EPSRC research area on "Continuum Mechanics".A second aim of my study of supercapacitors will be to develop reduced models that capture the main features of supercapacitor behaviour but that are also simple enough to be easily incorporated into grid-scale modelling. This will lead into the second part of my project, where I will focus on grid-scale systems and explore whether and how short-term energy storage can be used as a tool for grid stabilisation. This is a particularly pressing issue as we move to a low carbon economy and reduce our reliance on turbine-based technologies. The National Grid has announced new technological systems for frequency response including short-term energy storage and are now exploring the use of decommissioned turbines in maintaining inertia within the grid. My work will help to establish whether and how supercapacitors alone (or a combination of short-term energy storage involving supercapacitors, flywheels, and superconducting coils) can be used to maintain grid stability without having to introduce inertia to the system via decommissioned turbines. This closely aligns with the goal of the ESPRC research area "Whole Energy Systems".