A Comparative Analysis of Technologies for Covering Peak Loads in the Power System

One of the key and so far completely unsolved problem of modern power engineering is minimizing the cost of compensating for the imbalance between the generated and consumed powers in power systems. In addition to traditional regulation methods using hydroelectric and thermal power plants, the possibilities of storing power in different forms, including stationary electrochemical storage systems, are being more and more widely used at present. It is planned in future to use the on-board storage batteries of electric vehicles (V2G technology) for this purpose. Traditional and promising future technologies for compensating load fluctuations in electric power systems have their own niche applications and costs under different operating conditions. In this paper we provide comparative estimates of the specific costs when compensating load fluctuations of different duration using traditional technologies, which use flexible power units and peak power plants, and also technologies based on the use of electrochemical electric power storage. The costs for 1 kW h of peak electric power and the costs in theory per 1 kW of peak power are estimated. As follows from the results of the calculations, the use of electrochemical storage is economically useful for continuous operating times of less than 1 h. To cover longer electric consumption fluctuations, the most suitable technologies remain flexible gas turbine systems and simple-cycle and gas-piston equipment under peak conditions.