WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 577

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 28, N O . 5, 2004 PP 577–586 577

Redox Flow Batteries: Modelled for Power Quality

Improvements in Autonomous Wind-Diesel
Power Systems
Shameem Ahmad Lone and Mairaj ud-din Mufti
Electrical Engineering Dept., National Institute of Technology, Srinagar,190006, India
Email <sadial_14@yahoo.com> <muftimd@yahoo.com>

ABSTRACT
A redox flow battery (RFB), as with superconducting magnetic energy storage, has a high
speed response, and its active and reactive powers can be modulated in the four quadrants
of the power chart. This type of rechargeable battery is not aged by frequent charging and
discharging, and the battery efficiency increases when the charging/discharging period
becomes shorter. Moreover, in practical applications a RFB has several advantages, such as
operation at ambient temperature, short duration overload capability, small power loss
during standby, a long service life, flexibility in layout and ease of power output capacity
enhancement. These characteristics make the RFB most suitable for power quality
improvement in autonomous power systems. In this paper we propose the application of an
RFB for power quality improvement of an isolated wind diesel power system. Suitable
control strategies, based on fuzzy logic are used to modulate the exchange of real and
reactive powers between the RFB system and the ac bus of the wind diesel power system.
The effectiveness of the proposed scheme in dealing with various perturbations is then
studied and the results are presented.

Keywords: Power quality, redox flow battery, autonomous wind diesel power systems.

NOMENCLATURE
AVR automatic voltage regulator
IG induction generator
Gov diesel engine speed governor
RF redox flow
RFB redox flow battery
SG synchronous generator
SMES superconducting magnetic energy storage
f frequency of wind park bus voltage (Hz)
io self discharge current of RF battery (amp.)
I(t) battery current (amp.)
V voltage at wind park bus (volts)
Vb(t) battery terminal voltage (volts)

System data
IG = 12 kW, 380V, 1545 rpm SG = 240 kW, 380V
Load = 150 kW-360 kW Capacitor bank reactive power compensation = 75%
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 578

578 R EDOX F LOW B ATTERIES

RFB = 10 kW, 30 amp

RFB equivalent circuit parameters: io = 0.536A, R1 = 0.76Ω, R2 = 0.1Ω, R3 = 0.28Ω,
Co = 2000F, C1 = 30F, C2 = 214.3F

1. INTRODUCTION
In most countries worldwide, there are remote communities where it is impossible or too
expensive to connect them to the public grid. Diesel generator sets are mainly used for electric
supply in these situations. However diesel fuel is expensive at source and the costs are
increased even more with transportation to the remote locations. Yet many such areas have
good wind energy potential, so wind turbine generators may be linked with the diesel
generator sets to reduce the fuel cost, so providing a ‘wind-diesel stand alone power system’.
In such hybrid systems, the temporal variations in wind energy input and load demand
pose power quality problems [Mufti et al., 1998, 2002 & 2003], so utilization of the wind energy
benefits from the insertion of an energy storage buffer. Moreover, because both the frequency
and voltage are affected, integration with an advanced compensator can provide rapid
simultaneous active and reactive power control.
At present, intensive research and development is being carried out on Redox flow (RF)
batteries. Their application to electric power systems is attractive [Kaizuka et al., 2001 &
Sasaki et al., 2004]. Redox flow batteries stabilize the output of photovoltaic arrays, wind
turbines and other equipment that produces fluctuating power. Both long and short-period
components of the fluctuating power can be handled because of the quick response of this
battery. Already RF batteries have been used in applications for load leveling, momentary
voltage dip suppression, emergency power supply, and compensation of fluctuating power
and load frequency control.
The salient features of RF batteries are:
• Quick response time equivalent to that of SMES.
• Overload is possible for a short period of time.
• Safe operation at normal temperatures ( 5 οC – 40 οC).
• Harmless to the environment and safe to handle.
• No CO2 and NO2 emissions.
• Small waiting loss and long service life.
• Layout flexibility.
• Fast simultaneous modulation of both active as well as reactive powers.
The above features make an RFB attractive for power quality improvement of a stand-
alone power system. In this paper we propose the insertion of an RFB to a wind-diesel system,
at the wind park bus. The ability of an RF battery to operate on overload and in four quadrants
of power chart is exploited for this purpose. Suitable and comprehensive control schemes
based on fuzzy logic are used to make the RFB system act as an advanced fast active/reactive
power compensator. The results obtained with the proposed scheme are then presented.

2. THE REDOX FLOW BATTERY

The redox flow battery [Skyllas-Kazacos, M., Hawkin (1998) & (2001)] produces electricity
electrochemically by pumping charged electrolyte from external tanks through a specially
designed ‘flow frame’. The electrolyte is an acidic solution of vanadium. Electron transfer
occurs by the flow of two different and separated ionic forms of vanadium across an exchange
membrane as shown in figure 1. The battery operates on the V(4+)/V(5+)//(V(3+)/V(2+))
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 579

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 28, N O . 5, 2004 579

redox couples and produces a nominal cell potential of approximately 1.25V, depending on the
concentration of the vanadium. The useful terminal voltages are achieved by series
connection of many cells into a stack. The amount of power available is related to the stack
voltage and the current density established across the membrane, while the ampere hours
available depend on the supply of the electrolyte to the stack. The battery is a direct current
(DC) device, so connection to an alternating current (AC) power system is established via an
AC/DC converter.
There are number of advantages for energy storage of the RFB compared with lead-acid
battery technology. One advantage is that the electrochemistry does not involve a solid-liquid
phase transition at the electrode interface (as with a lead-acid battery system) and so the
electrodes only function as current collectors. In principle this means that the RFB can
undergo an unlimited number of charge-recharge cycles. A second very important feature
of the RFB is that it allows opportunity charging, i.e. the capacity can be increased
instantaneously by addition of more charged electrolyte. This is similar to refueling the fuel
tank of a diesel generator. Such ‘refueling’ is not possible with lead acid battery system since
its chemical energy is stored in both the electrodes as well as the electrolyte; once expended,
these electrodes must undergo electrical recharge. More importantly, the bulk electrolyte
need not be within the electrode stack. Consequently, the RFB package contrasts with lead-
acid batteries, since the latter (i) have their weight and volume dictated by the cell capacity,
and (ii) the requirement for the battery plates and electrolyte to be encapsulated together.
Thus the RFB capacity-dictating electrolyte volume may be housed underground, as with
petroleum fuel storage.
A comparison of some characteristics of the lead-acid battery and the redox flow battery
is given in Table 1.

Power system bus

Storing electricity Discharging electricity

AC/DC converter

V5+ V2+
V5+/V4+ V2+/V3+
Tanks e′ H+ e′ Tanks
V4+ V3+
Cell

Pump Electrode Membrane Pump

Figure 1: Configuration of a redox flow battery in a power system.

Table I: A comparison of lead-acid battery with redox–flow battery.

Characteristic Lead-acid battery Redox-flow battery
Storage type Chemical Chemical
Efficiency (%) 75–80 85
Service life <8 years 10+ years
System packaging Unitary Modular
Charge control Separate Integrated
Technology maturity Mature Developmental
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 580

580 R EDOX F LOW B ATTERIES

.
IG IG IG

Wind park bus

200 kVA f V
20/0.38 kV
6%
Fuzzy

Qa

Pa
5 km controllers

Pd Qd

5 km PWM
inverter

Village
distribution system
2 km
Vb

RF battery

400 kVA
0.38/20 kV
4%

SG SG
AVR AVR

Diesel Diesel
Gov Gov
engine engine

Figure 2: Configuration of the system.

3. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Figure 2 shows the proposed system under study [Stavrakakis et al., 1995 & Mufti et al., 2003].
It has two synchronous machines driven by diesel engines, ten wind turbines coupled to
induction generators, transmission network, capacitor banks and the village distribution
system. A 10 kW RFB is connected through a PWM converter to the wind park bus. The
voltage and frequency deviations at the wind park bus are processed by two fuzzy logic
controllers to compute the active and reactive powers to be exchanged between the RFB
systems and the wind park bus.

4. REDOX–FLOW BATTERY MODEL

The RFB and converter system combination is modelled by two lag blocks shown in Fig. 3,
where each block has a time constant of 350 µs [Enomto et al., 2002]. For continuous control
after a disturbance, the RFB should return to its normal voltage. Therefore, battery terminal
voltage deviation has to be obtained and a small proportion added to the frequency deviation
signal for continuous control. The model used to obtain the RFB terminal voltage at any
instant, from the active power delivered by it, is also depicted in Fig. 3. The current I(t), from
the controlled current source of Fig. 3, is related to active power, Pb supplied to the battery
through the following equation.
Pb(t) = Vb(t) I(t) (1)
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 581

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 28, N O . 5, 2004 581

R1

Pd 1 Pa Pa/Vb
1+s τ C1 R2
io
I(t)

Vb(t)
Qd 1 C2 R3
1+s τ
Qa
Wind
C0
park bus

Figure 3: Model of the RFB system.

∆f + kv* Vb P (active power) Pd

controller

∆V Q (reactive power) Qd
controller

Figure 4: Fuzzy logic controllers for RFB.

A state space model for the dynamic system of Fig. 3 was developed and was linked with
the overall hybrid system model for computation of instantaneous battery voltage.

5. CONTROL SCHEME
Two PD type fuzzy logic controllers, labelled as P and Q controllers in Fig. 4, have been used in
this paper. These process the frequency deviation augmented by a small proportion of battery
terminal voltage deviation and the voltage deviation at wind park bus to compute active Pd
and reactive Qd powers which need to be exchanged between RF battery system and the
wind park bus.
The membership functions for error (e), change in error (ce) and output-control signal (u)
are given in Fig. 5. The active power of ± 30 kW and reactive power of ± 30 kVAR [Kaizuka
et al., 2001] can be handled at the ac terminals of the 10 kW RF battery. This is considered with
the output membership functions in the Fig. 5. The set of fuzzy rules for both the controllers is
given in Table 2.
A typical rule in Table 2, marked *, indicates the following steps:

IF (error(e) is LP) and (change in error(ce) is LN)

THEN (control (u) is LN)
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 582

582 R EDOX F LOW B ATTERIES

LN MN SN Z SP MP LP

−.5 Membership functions for error (e) .5 units

−.02 .02 p.u.

LN MN SN Z SP MP LP

−.025 Membership functions for change in error (ce) .025

−.009 .009

LN MN SN Z SP MP LP

−30 Membership functions for control u 30 kW

−30 30 kVAR

Figure 5: Membership functions for fuzzy logic controllers.

Table 2: Rule base for fuzzy logic controllers.

Ce LN MN SN Z SP MP LP
e
LP LP* MP SP Z Z Z Z
MP MP LP MP SP SP Z Z
SP SP MP LP MP MP SP Z
Z SP SP MP LP MP SP SP
SN Z SP MP MP LP MP SP
MN Z Z SP MP MP LP MP
LN Z Z Z Z SP MP LP
LN → large negative MN → medium negative SN → small negative Z→ zero
SP → small positive MP → medium positive LP → large positive

For P-controller : e(k) → ∆f(k) + 0.01*∆Vb(k) (2)

ce(k) → e(k) – e(k – 1) (3)

u(k) = Pd(k) (4)

For Q-controller : e(k) → ∆V(k) (5)

ce(k) → e(k) – e(k – 1) (6)

u(k) = Qd(k) (7)

where k represents k-th sampling period.

The stepwise procedure for active P controller is as follows:

• Sample f and Vb.
• Compute error (e) and change in error (ce) as per equations (2) and (3).
• Compute the degree of membership of e and ce for the relevant subsets.
• Identify the valid rules from Table 2 and calculate the degree of membership using
MIN operator.
• Retrieve u for each rule from Table 2.
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 583

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 28, N O . 5, 2004 583

• Calculate the resultant crisp value u by height defuzzification method.

• Value of u obtained gives Pd, the value of active power to supplied to the battery.
For Q controller, a similar approach is used.

6. SIMULATION RESULTS
Based on dynamic models of various components, MATLAB programs were developed
and a range of simulations were performed. The behaviour of the system under various
disturbances such as wind power disconnection, load changes and step wind power changes
were examined. Before running the dynamic programs for a particular disturbance, the load
flow and initial program files were run to obtain the steady state data prior to the disturbance
(henceforth t < to). The power quality results with and without RFB were obtained and
presented.

6.1. Wind park disconnection

The objective of this case study is to examine the behaviour of the power system with an
abrupt change in wind power penetration. Initially the wind turbines are generating 100 kW
and the load is 312 kW/200 kVAR, while the system frequency is 50 Hz. At t = to the wind park
is disconnected along with associated capacitor banks. According to Fig. 6, the power quality
of the wind–diesel system is not acceptable [Stavrakakis et al., 1995]. The same figure reveals
that with the insertion of RFB the power quality becomes quite satisfactory. In Fig. 6, the RFB

0.2 1
Without RFB Without RFB
With RFB With RFB
0
Frequency deviation (Hz)

0.5
−0.2
Voltage deviation (%)

0
−0.4
at load bus

−0.6
−0.5

−0.8

−1
−1

−1.2 −1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (sec) Time (sec)
(a) (b)
0 375

374
−20
RFB voltage (V)
RFB current (A)

373

−40
372

−60 371

370
−80

369
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (sec) Time (sec)
(c) (d)

Figure 6: (a) Frequency deviation due to wind power disconnection.

(b) Voltage deviation at load bus (%) due to wind power disconnection.
(c) RFB current due to wind power disconnection.
(d) RFB voltage due to wind power disconnection.
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 584

584 R EDOX F LOW B ATTERIES

Table 3: Load profile for active/reactive power load disturbance.

Time (sec) Active power (KW) Reactive power (KW)
0<t<10 360 200

0 1
Without RFB
0.5 With RFB
Frequency deviation (Hz)

−0.2

Voltage deviation (%)

0
−0.4 Without RFB
−0.5

at load bus
With RFB

−0.6 −1

−0.8
−2
−1

−1.2 −3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (sec) Time (sec)
(a) (b)

0 375

374
−20
RFB current (A)

RFB voltage (V)

373

−40
372

371
−60

370

−80
369
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (sec) Time (sec)
(c) (d)
Figure 7: (a) Frequency deviation (Hz) due to load disturbance.
(b) Voltage deviation (%) at load bus due to load disturbance.
(c) RFB current due to load disturbance.
(d) RFB voltage (V) due to load disturbance.

variables are also included. Their variation is due to continuous dynamic interaction between
the RFB and the system.

6.2. Changes in load demand

The simulations were also performed for change in load demand. The changes in both active
and reactive load powers were introduced to study the effect of this very important
perturbation. The power supplied by the wind turbines in this case study is assumed to stay
constant at a value of 50 kW and the load profile is the one depicted in Table 3. The simulation
results pertaining to this case study are presented in Fig. 7. It can be observed from these
results that the insertion of RFB helps to maintain the power quality in this case also.

6.3. Step changes in wind speed

In this example the system is exposed to step changes in wind power. Initially, at t < to, the wind
turbines generate 50 kW and for t ≥ to the wind power is assumed to vary on Fig. 8. The
simulation results for this mode are shown in Fig. 9, which clearly shows the positive impact of
proposed scheme on the power quality of the system.
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 585

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 28, N O . 5, 2004 585

110

100
Wind power (kW)

80

60

40
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Time (sec)

Figure 8: Step wind power variation.

0.6 1.5
Without RFB Without RFB
Voltage deviation (%) at load bus

With RFB With RFB

0.4 1
Frequency deviation (Hz)

0.2 0.5

0 0

−0.2 −0.5

−0.4 −1

−0.6 −1.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Time (sec) Time (sec)

(a) (b)

60 377

40
376
RFB voltage (V)
RFB current (A)

20

0 375

−20
374
−40

−60 373
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Time (sec) Time (sec)

(c) (d)

Figure 9: (a) Frequency deviation (Hz) for a step change in wind power.
(b) Voltage deviation (%) at the load bus due to step change in wind power.
(c) RFB current due to step change in wind power.
(d) RFB voltage due to step change in wind power.
WE_28-5_Paper-7 12/01/05 10:10 am Page 586

586 R EDOX F LOW B ATTERIES

CONCLUSIONS
Installation of a RFB at the wind park bus of a multi-machine wind diesel power system is
proposed and modelled. The capability of RFB to operate on overload and in all the four
quadrants of power chart is exploited. Two fuzzy logic controllers are used to make RFB
system exchange real and reactive power with the wind-diesel power system. The proposed
scheme is investigated for its impact on the power quality under various disturbances. The
simulation results are presented to show that the proposed scheme helps in maintaining the
power quality of the system within acceptable limits.

REFERENCES
Mufti M.D., Balasubramanian R. and Tripathy S.C. (1998) “Simulataneous frequency and
voltage control of wind-diesel power system using energy storage”, International
Journal of Energy Research, no. 22, pp. 221-235.
Mufti M.D., Balasubramanian R. and Tripathy S.C. (2002) “Dynamic performance assessment of
an isolated wind-diesel system with superconducting magnetic energy unit under
turbulent wind and load disturbances”, International Journal of Energy Research, no. 26,
pp. 185-201.
Mufti M.D., Balasubramanian R., Tripathy S.C. and Lone S.A. (2003) “Modelling and control of
weak power systems supplied from diesel and wind”, International Journal of Power
and Energy systems, no. 23, pp. 24-36.
Kaizuka T. and Sasaki T. (2001) Evaluation of control maintaining electric power quality by
use of rechargeable battery system, 0-7803-6672-7/01 (C) IEEE.
Sasaki T., Kadoya T. and Enomoto K. (2004) “Study on load frequency control using redox flow
batteries”, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, no. 19, pp. 660-667.
Enomoto K., Sasaki T., Shigematsu T. and Deguchi H. ( 2002) “Evaluation study about redox
flow battery response and modeling”, IEEJ Trans., Power Eng., 122-B, pp. 554-560.
Stavrakakis G.S. and Kariniotakis G.N. (1995) “A general simulation algorithm for accurate
assessment of isolated diesel-wind turbine system integration”, IEEE Transactions on
Energy Conversion, no. 10, pp. 577-590.
Hawkins J.M. (1998) “Storage devices in PV systems: Latest developments, technology
and integration problems”, Solar Photovoltaic workshop’98, 1998 Telepower Australia
Pty Ltd.
Hawkins J.M. and Robbins T.P. (2001) A field trial of Vanadium energy storage system,
Telepower Australia Pty Ltd.
Skyllas-Kazacos M. A historical overview of the Vanadium redox flow battery development at
the University of New South Wales, Australia: http://www.ceic.unsw.edu.au/
centres/vrb.