Electrical power grids are undergoing substantial structural and operational changes, driven by increased intermittent renewable energy generation from Wind and Photovoltaics (PV), increasing electricity consumption, evolving production of renewable energy systems, demand, aging grids, environmental impacts that threaten the resiliency of power sources, and the goal to decrease fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Badger Tech proposes an integrated Hybrid Energy Storage Solution (HESS) that combines ultracapacitors (high power, fast response), batteries (high energy density, long term response), thin film PV systems and an Intelligent Node Management system to optimize energy efficiency, increase microgrid asset life, and improve resiliency by ensuring high quality power supply to critical loads on a military base. The HESS hybrid energy storage chemistries are supported by flexible hardware/software that enables optimization for specific, individual microgrid needs. HESS is an ultra-fast response, high power solution with energy backup, avoiding oversizing due to decoupling power. It is charged when energy is cheaper or load is low, and discharged when energy is more expensive or when the consumption is high. HESS enables peak shaving after reaching a predefined output power limit to relieve stress on a substation, as well as time shifting, black starts, and other functions. It can also support a microgrid when power is lost, ensuring mission critical operations continue. The HESS is a scalable system that can use varying quantities of networked batteries and ultracapacitors to provide from 100 KW to 50 MW and beyond enabling the baseline configuration to be adapted to the specific facility needs.
