Application of SMES as peak load compensator and secondary frequency controller in smart grid

Power quality and reliability in power supply are the two most important factors for power system engineering. To ensure the reliability of a power system transient stability must be ensured by storing additional energy. There are several large scale energy storage devices, among them SMES system can act as a reliable and quick acting energy reservoir with maximum efficiency. The generating unit should have sufficient flexibility in power generation along with a reserve of 15% more than the actual energy demand. Electrical energy storage in bulk amount finds its significance in large power outages and peak load hours. Under such emergency conditions SMES system can only help the power system to survive. It has the inherent capacity to store large amount of electrical energy along with its quick power injecting property. Besides its efficiency, installation of SMES reduces the operating cost of a power plant connected to the grid. In this paper the quick acting property of SMES is justified by the electrical equivalent circuit of SMES coil simulated in MATLAB Simulink. The SMES system as an effective substitute of the secondary frequency controller is also discussed in this paper with suitable control topology.