ABB Advanced Power Electronics

Little Barford Power Station, Regenesys - Plant, United Kingdom

Plant Reference Sheet

Power Conversion System 18.25 MVA

ABB

Main Technical Features

A quiet corner of south - east England is attracting an unusual amount of attention from the power community these days. The reason is a new type of energy storage plant with the potential to revolutionize the industry. Called Regenesys, it is based on redox flow battery technology developed by UK utility RWE Innogy plc. Regenesys Technologies Limited, a subsidiary of RWE Innogy plc, has built the 12 MW facility alongside its 680 MW combined cycle power station at Little Barford, Cambridgeshire. ABB Switzerland Ltd supplied the facilitys state-of-the-art power conversion system (PCS), which features innovative IGCTbased power electronics and advanced control. With a designed storage capacity of 120 MWh - enough to keep 10,000 consumers supplied with electricity for a full day the plant will be one of the largest of its kind anywhere in the world. Update December 2003: The RWE group has decided not to commit further funding to the Regenesys business. "Whilst ongoing testing has proven the technology, we will not be committing the capital expenditure needed to take it to market", a spokesman said.

Power Conversion System (PCS)

A key component of any battery or fuel cell system is its power conversion system (PCS). The PCS provides the interface between AC grid supply voltage and the variable operating voltage of the DC modules. The terminal voltage of the battery varies considerably, being dependent on the flow direction and magnitude of the power. The main components of the PCS are: Power Transformer Converter Harmonic Filter 50 Hz Grid DC-Reactors Control

Control
The PCS control is located in a separate room, using the PSR II (Programmable high speed) controller. Local control allows operating the isolators and breakers of DC switchgear. The PCS control system allows four-quadrant operation for leading and lagging power factor while importing or exporting power, allowing independent control of real power (P) and reactive power (Q), within the operation area of the PCS design. Basically there are two functions installed in the PSR system to assure a stable operation of the PCS. These two independent functions installed in the PSR system are: P/f function Q/U function The first function is the control of real power as a function of the deviation of the grid frequency (P/f). The other function is the control of the reactive power as a function of the deviation of the grid voltage (Q/U). The setpoints for the nominal realand reactive power are provided by the batteries control system according to the available energy in the battery and other circumstances.
Battery-PLC
BI/BO PCS control system PCS-sequence control (Software) PCS-closed loop control (Firmware) Serial link

Transformer
The 3 Phase 18 MVA Converter Transformer is installed outdoor and uses the natural cooling method ONAN. It is made by ABB Transformers in Bad Honeff, Germany.

Converter
The converter consists of two functionally independent converter systems: Chopper unit (DC/DC converter) Inverter unit (12-pulse 3-phase DC/AC converter). These converters are connected via the DC link.

Harmonic Filter
The 5 MVAr harmonic filter is directly connected to the grid. It is designed to reject the harmonics generated by the inverter.
UB

Optical links
DC Filter VLU

Optical links Cooling unit

PCC To Little Barford Power Station

UB
n=5 n=23

RFC Streams and DC-CB's

DC-Chopper

DC Link

Inverter 50Hz

Trafo 50Hz

50Hz Harmonic Filter and AC-CB's

Figure 1: Principle diagram

ABB Switzerland Ltd

Advanced Power Electronics CH - 5300 Turgi, Switzerland Phone: +41 58 589 32 35 Fax: +41 58 589 26 18 E-Mail: pes@ch.abb.com Internet: www.abb.com/powerelectronics

3BHS 136 052 ZAB E01 A

ABB

Main Technical Data

Plant: Little Barford Power Station, Regenesys-Plant, UK Installation: Indoor (partly outdoor) Environmental Conditions : 5C +35C Primary Supply: 6.6 kV / 1800 A / 50 Hz DC link Voltage / Current: 2400 V / 3800 A Chopper DC Voltage: 2094 / 4257 V Chopper DC Current: 8345 / 3894 A Total AC Power: 18.25 MVA Control System: ABB PSRII