IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTRODE BOILER FOR LOAD-FREQUENCY CONTROL OF UTILITY GRIDS

摘要

Decentralized electrical energy systems will play an essential role in the future smart grid. In this paper we introduce a new industrial scale electric thermal energy system using a high-voltage electrode boiler, of which the level of electricity consumption can be adjusted as desired. It is also shown that, with appropriate instrumentation and measurement algorithms, the energy consumption can be adjusted quickly and accurately. This feature makes such a thermal energy system an ideal candidate to deal with the variability of renewable energy, to respond to the prices in the electric power markets, and support the frequency stability of the power grid. The new method significantly improves the performance of this electric thermal energy system, reducing the mean power errors to 0 ± 0.5%. Presented in this paper is a smart electric thermal energy system, along with an enhanced control algorithm for quickly and accurately adjusting power consumption, providing a fundamental building block toward expanded use of high-voltage electrode boilers for load-frequency control applications with the added benefit of thermal energy as a by-product for use by various consumers. Fast acting load-frequency control is particularly relevant in applications with increased volatility due to electrical power production by wind-turbines.