Energy Storage Science and Technology ›› 2025, Vol. 14 ›› Issue (8): 3078-3089.doi: 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2025.0535

• Special Issue on Short Term High-Frequency High-Power Energy Storage • Previous Articles    

Supercapacitor energy storage systems for frequency regulation applications in power systems

Caiying XU(), Yuzhen TANG, Qiuyu LI, Haoyue YANG, Yang CHEN, Hengzhao YANG()   

  1. School of Information Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
  • Received:2025-06-06 Revised:2025-07-23 Online:2025-08-28 Published:2025-08-18
  • Contact: Hengzhao YANG E-mail:xucy12023@shanghaitech.edu.cn;hzyang@shanghaitech.edu.cn

Abstract:

As the penetration of renewable energy resources keeps increasing, the frequency stability of the power system is becoming a major concern due to the intermittency and uncertainty associated with such energy resources. Among various energy storage technologies, supercapacitors feature a high power density, a long cycle life, and a wide operating temperature range, which make them a competitive candidate for the frequency regulation applications in power systems. This paper reviews the supercapacitor energy storage systems for such applications. First, this paper analyzes the frequency regulation requirements of power systems and the potential benefits of supercapacitor energy storage systems in this context. Next, this paper summarizes the control strategies and component sizing methods for the supercapacitor energy storage systems. Specifically, classical control methods such as droop control and advanced control strategies such as model predictive control are covered. As for component sizing, rule-based methods and optimization-based methods are discussed. Then, this paper analyzes the demonstration projects using supercapacitor energy storage systems for frequency regulation applications. In particular, this paper elaborates on the architectures, operation modes, and economies of hybrid energy storage systems incorporating supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries. Finally, this paper outlines several research and development issues that the academia and the industry need to address to accelerate the adoption of supercapacitor energy storage systems for frequency regulation applications in power systems.

Key words: frequency regulation of power systems, supercapacitors, control strategies, component sizing, demonstration projects

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